Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Corruption ~ Changing Scenarios that Define the Corrupt

      
          The Harvard Business Review is running a very interesting and insightful story on how money in politics is having a deleterious and increasingly eroding effect on U.S. innovation and the economic environment that fosters the same.


How Corruption Is Strangling U.S. Innovation
http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2012/12/how_corruption_is_strangling_us_innovation.html

An excerpt from the original entry:

" If there's been one topic that has entirely dominated the post-election landscape, it's the fiscal cliff. Will taxes be raised? Which programs will be cut? Who will blink first in negotiations? For all the talk of the fiscal cliff, however, I believe the US is facing a much more serious problem, one that has simply not been talked about at all: corruption. But this isn't the overt, "bartering of government favors in return for private kickbacks" corruption. Instead, this type of corruption has actually been legalized. And it is strangling both US competitiveness, and the ability for US firms to innovate.

The corruption to which I am referring is the phenomenon of money in politics.

..Somehow, it seems that every time that [Mickey Mouse] is about to enter the public domain, Congress has passed a bill to extend the length of copyright. Congress has paid no heed to research or calls for reform; the only thing that matters to determining the appropriate length of copyright is how old Mickey is. Rather than create an incentive to innovate and develop new characters, the present system has created the perverse situation where it makes more sense for Big Content to make campaign contributions to extend protection for their old work.if you were in any doubt how deep inside the political system the system of contributions have allowed incumbents to insert their hands, take a look at what happened when the Republican Study Committee released a paper pointing out some of the problems with current copyright regime. The debate was stifled within 24 hours. And just for good measure, Rep Marsha Blackburn, whose district abuts Nashville and who received more money from the music industry than any other Republican congressional candidate, apparently had the author of the study, Derek Khanna, fired. Sure, debate around policy is important, but it's clearly not as important as raising campaign funds.

       ..Ars Technica reports that Derek Khanna is getting axed over his memo detailing the conflict between laissez-faire-oriented free market ideals and the regulatory monopoly that is copyright. 'The Republican Study Committee, a caucus of Republicans in the House of Representatives, has told staffer Derek Khanna that he will be out of a job when Congress re-convenes in January. The incoming chairman of the RSC, Steve Scalise (R-LA) was approached by several Republican members of Congress who were upset about a memo Khanna wrote advocating reform of copyright law. They asked that Khanna not be retained, and Scalise agreed to their request. "

“Greed & Power-lust is a weed that grows only in the vacant lots of an abandoned mind. ” ~Ayn Rand

           The multifaceted Intent and the efforts to control and curb corruption increases levels of trust in the ability of institutions to effectively enforce laws/rules of trade in a fair manner. With varied periods of time pervasive bureaucracy and increasing red tape also tends to create a stagnant climate where corruption can and will flourish, with officials often demanding bribes for the myriad permits needed to carry on business among several other things. Entities and groups with a political and financial upper hand often tend to dominate and predate in a market such as this. High handed corruption as a result continues to remain a major deterrent to distributed and diverse economic activity. Often a better control of corruption has been historically associated with rising levels of innovation and entrepreneurship. Absence of such a critical and defining trust, would invariably restrict the scale and scope of trade and inversely effect productivity and investment in innovation and entrepreneurship.

        Yes, the puzzling relationship between entrepreneurship, innovation, and corruption suggests corruption is inversely correlated to economic growth, entrepreneurship and innovation. That is, beyond all debates and arguments several studies across the globe conclude that as corruption goes up, economic indicators go down. The scope/effects of corruption on business is mediated and outlined by several factors, all of which are related to the ability to reliably enforce rules that promote fair trade and transparency.

“Political corruption, social greed, and Americanized quasi-socialism can ruin even the most wonderful places. California proved that.” 

~Tiffany Madison

         Entrepreneurs and innovators are motivated by the portion of the value created by the venture that they are able to capture for themselves. As corruption increases, entrepreneurs face the risk of losing some of those profits to opportunists taking advantage of the corruption on the value chain. As a result, some potential entrepreneurs become discouraged and abstain from pursuing new business opportunities. The dampening effect of corruption has often been compared with that of taxes. Under this school of thought, corruption would differ from taxation only in the lack of public revenue generated. No matter the depth or potential of their innovations, all of their efforts to solve challenging industrial/social/economic problems could be stymied and nullified by corruption and unscrupulousness that favor the connections and short-term gain of a few over the long-term benefit of the industries they serve, the economy and the populace. Corruption is one of the most restrictive and intractable issues around the world, It is comparable to a wider and deplorable socio-economic disease that pervades and plagues entire cultures and economies  It inhibits the development of a stable and prosperous economy and the flourishing of an active democracy and citizen sector. Demanding transparency and fostering a culture in the public and private sector of accountability and  rule of law is perhaps the only real feasible approach to tackling this issue in the United States.

Sincerely,

Jai Krishna Ponnappan

------------P.S-------------

Blessed is The Fruitful Hand

“Among a people generally corrupt, liberty cannot long exist.” 
~Edmund Burke

“Evil is not just a theory of paradox, but an actual entity that exists only for itself. From its ether of manifestation that is garlanded in perpetual darkness, it not only influences and seeks the ruination and destruction of everything that resides in our universe, but rushes to embrace its own oblivion as well.

To accomplish this, however, it must hide within the shroud of lies and deceit it spins to manipulate the weak-minded as well as those who choose to ally themselves with it for their own personal gain. For evil must rely on the self-serving interests of the arrogant, the lustful, the power-hungry, the hateful, and the greedy to feed and proliferate. This then becomes the condition of evil’s existence: the baneful ideologies of those who wantonly chose to ignore the needs and rights of others, inducing oppression, fear, pain, and even death throughout the cosmos. And by these means, evil seeks to supplant the balance of the universe with its perverse nature. 

And once all that was good has been extinguished by corruption or annihilation, evil will then turn upon and consume what remains: particularly its immoral servants who have assisted its purpose so well … along with itself. And within that terrible instant of unimaginable exploding quantum fury, it will burn brighter than a trillion galaxies to herald its moment of ultimate triumph. But a moment is all that it shall be. And a micro-second later when the last amber burns and flickers out to the demise of dissolving ash, evil will leave its legacy of a totally devoid universe as its everlasting monument to eternal death.”
~ by Adam Turquine. The excerpt is taken from the sequel to 'Beyond Mars Crimson Fleet'

“When one gets in bed with government, one must expect the diseases it spreads.” ~ Ron Paul

CORRUPTION PERCEPTIONS INDEX 2012

            Looking at the Corruption Perceptions Index 2012, it's clear that corruption is a major threat facing humanity.


         
           Corruption destroys lives and communities, and undermines countries and institutions. It generates popular anger that threatens to further destabilize societies and exacerbate violent conflicts.

            The Corruption Perceptions Index scores countries on a scale from 0 (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean). While no country has a perfect score, two-thirds of countries score below 50, indicating a serious corruption problem.

           Corruption translates into human suffering, with poor families being extorted for bribes to see doctors or to get access to clean drinking water. It leads to failure in the delivery of basic services like education or healthcare. It derails the building of essential infrastructure, as corrupt leaders skim funds.

          Corruption amounts to a dirty tax, and the poor and most vulnerable are its primary victims.

So, How do we Counter the Effects of Public Sector Corruption?

              *Governments need to integrate anti-corruption actions into all aspects of decision-making. 
              *They must prioritize better rules on lobbying and political financing. 
               *They must make public spending and contracting more transparent, and make public bodies more accountable.

              After a year with a global focus on corruption, we expected more governments to take a tougher stance against the abuse of power. The Corruption Perceptions Index results demonstrate that there are still many societies and governments that need to give a much higher priority to this issue.

~ Jai Krishna Ponnappan

Toward Soviet America ? | An Appeal to Learn from the Mistakes of the Past

        

                This is a comment in response to a very interesting take on America by Xavier Lerma of Pravda posted on Liberty Newswire. It is easy to forget the past and to keep on persisting forward illogically, but there is quiet plainly a lot that needs to be learnt from history, not just our own but theirs as well. I apologize to many of my liberal friends reading this and especially those who work in the media industry. I believe that one can really learn a lot no matter where they are from, in that you have grown and done really well as directed and instructed to successfully propagate and promote all the many strong sentiments to the contrary and to give shape and power to this blinding and overpowering fanaticism over the last few years. It is indeed really hurtful and baffling to be labelled illiterate. I'd like to think and imagine that perhaps being gullible, irrational and willing is what has portrayed us with an otherwise undeserving, uncharacteristic and shameful identity such as this.

My response to the article,

Obama's Soviet Mistake

        

                   "Whatever concept one may hold, from a metaphysical point of view, concerning the freedom of the will, certainly its appearances, which are human actions, like every other natural event, are determined by universal laws. However obscure their causes, history, which is concerned with narrating these appearances, permits us to hope that if we attend to the play of freedom of the human will in the large, we may be able to discern a regular movement in it, and that what seems complex and chaotic in the single individual may be seen from the standpoint of the human race as a whole to be a steady and progressive though slow evolution of its original endowment." 

~ Immanuel Kant.

Taken from, "Idea for a Universal History from a Cosmopolitan Point of View" (1784)

             Perhaps it ought to be considered more of a concise summary and a gist, outlining the World's perspective of this country and the tough times and challenging position it finds itself in. Strong Words of Advice and more importantly a very well defined Warning to all the powers that usurp Freedom and dare to prevail against Free men. The only thing a lot of Americans would do well to read over and over again is what Putin said regarding the military, "...instead of solving the problem, militarization pushes it to a deeper level. It draws away from the economy immense financial and material resources, which could have been used much more efficiently elsewhere." , he has all the backing this country and the NWO can never even imagine or dream of at this stage. They hate what happened to them in their painful history and they rarely ever try to conceal the facts, their pain or their shame..... It's only beneficial and apt that such voices of solidarity and concern be heard.

"Mankind is so much the same, in all times and places, that history informs us of nothing new or strange in this particular. Its chief use is only to discover the constant and universal principles of human nature." 

~ David Hume

Here's the original post as seen on Pravda,


            "Putin in 2009 outlined his strategy for economic success. Alas, poor Obama did the opposite but nevertheless was re-elected. Bye, bye Miss American Pie. The Communists have won in America with Obama but failed miserably in Russia with Zyuganov who only received 17% of the vote. Vladimir Putin was re-elected as President keeping the NWO order out of Russia while America continues to repeat the Soviet mistake.

After Obama was elected in his first term as president the then Prime Minister of Russia, Vladimir Putin gave a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland in January of 2009. Ignored by the West as usual, Putin gave insightful and helpful advice to help the world economy and saying the world should avoid the Soviet mistake.

Recently, Obama has been re-elected for a 2nd term by an illiterate society and he is ready to continue his lies of less taxes while he raises them. He gives speeches of peace and love in the world while he promotes wars as he did in Egypt, Libya and Syria. He plans his next war is with Iran as he fires or demotes his generals who get in the way.

"Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it." 

~ George Santayana 

Putin said regarding the military,
"...instead of solving the problem, militarization pushes it to a deeper level. It draws away from the economy immense financial and material resources, which could have been used much more efficiently elsewhere."

Well, any normal individual understands that as true but liberalism is a psychosis . O'bomber even keeps the war going along the Mexican border with projects like "fast and furious" and there is still no sign of ending it.  He is a Communist without question promoting the Communist Manifesto without calling it so. How shrewd he is in America. His cult of personality mesmerizes those who cannot go beyond their ignorance. They will continue to follow him like those fools who still praise Lenin and Stalin in Russia.  Obama's fools and Stalin's fools share the same drink of illusion.

Reading Putin's speech without knowing the author, one would think it was written by Reagan or another conservative in America. The speech promotes smaller government and less taxes. It comes as no surprise to those who know Putin as a conservative. Vladimir Putin went on to say:





"...we are reducing taxes on production, investing money in the economy. We are optimizing state expenses.

 The second possible mistake would be excessive interference into the economic life of the country and the absolute faith into the all-mightiness of the state.

There are no grounds to suggest that by putting the responsibility over to the state, one can achieve better results.

Unreasonable expansion of the budget deficit, accumulation of the national debt - are as destructive as an adventurous stock market game.

During the time of the Soviet Union the role of the state in economy was made absolute, which eventually lead to the total non-competitiveness of the economy. That lesson cost us very dearly. I am sure no one would want history to repeat itself."

President Vladimir Putin could never have imagined anyone so ignorant or so willing to destroy their people like Obama much less seeing millions vote for someone like Obama. They read history in America don't they? Alas, the schools in the U.S. were conquered by the Communists long ago and history was revised thus paving the way for their Communist presidents. Obama has bailed out those businesses that voted for him and increased the debt to over 16 trillion with an ever increasing unemployment rate especially among blacks and other minorities. All the while promoting his agenda.

"We must seek support in the moral values that have ensured the progress of our civilization. Honesty and hard work, responsibility and faith in our strength are bound to bring us success."- Vladimir Putin

The red, white and blue still flies happily but only in Russia. Russia still has St George defeating the Dragon with the symbol of the cross on its' flag. The ACLU and other atheist groups in America would never allow the US flag with such religious symbols. Lawsuits a plenty against religious freedom and expression in the land of the free. Christianity in the U.S. is under attack as it was during the early period of the Soviet Union when religious symbols were against the law.   

Let's give American voters the benefit of the doubt and say it was all voter fraud and not ignorance or stupidity in electing a man who does not even know what to do and refuses help from Russia when there was an oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Instead we'll say it's true that the Communists usage of electronic voting was just a plan to manipulate the vote. Soros and his ownership of the company that counts the US votes in Spain helped put their puppet in power in the White House. According to the Huffington Post, residents in all 50 states have filed petitions to secede from the Unites States. We'll say that these Americans are hostages to the Communists in power. How long will their government reign tyranny upon them?

Russia lost its' civil war with the Reds and millions suffered torture and death for almost 75 years under the tyranny of the United Soviet Socialist Republic. Russians survived with a new and stronger faith in God and ever growing Christian Church. The question is how long will the once "Land of the Free" remain the United Socialist States of America?  Their suffering has only begun. Bye bye Miss American Pie!  You know the song you hippies. Sing it! Don't you remember? 

The 1971 hit song by American song writer Don McLean :)

"And, as I watched him on the stage my hands were clenched in fists of rage.

No angel born in Hell could break that Satan's spell

And, as the flames climbed high into the night to light the sacrificial rite, I saw...

Satan laughing with delight the day the music died

He was singing, bye bye Miss American Pie

Drove my Chevy to the levee, but the levee was dry

Them good ol' boys were drinking whiskey and rye, singing...

This'll be the day that I die

This'll be the day that I die

So, the question remains:

How long will America suffer and to what depths?"

"History is for human self-knowledge ... the only clue to what man can do is what man has done. The value of history, then, is that it teaches us what man has done and thus what man is." 

~ R. G. Collingwood 

Thoughts, Prayers.....

& Best Regards,

Jai Krishna Ponnappan

Ref. http://english.pravda.ru/opinion/columnists/19-11-2012/122849-obama_soviet_mistake-0/

Image: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=511381688880848&set=a.370676586284693.91483.275406119145074&type=1