ANON: _The Economist_ on South Korea

[Edward Elhauge]

In message <9310181820.AA02600 at ah.com>, Eric Hughes writes:
>      [...] One of Mr Kim;s first presidential acts was to bare his
>   assets.  Then ministers, MPs and top civil servants were all
>   required to disclose their net worth.  To no one's surprise, while
>   the president's people were mostly clean, many of the old guard
>   turned out to be rolling in wealth whose origins they could not
>   readily explain. Many resigned.
>
>      The "real names" reform, announced on August 12th, was Mr Kim's
>   most radical step yet.  The issue had been hotly debated for over a
>   decade.  Hitherto South Koreans had been able to keep bank accounts
>   in any name they cared to invent; convenient for tax evasion, and
>   for recycling the cash-stuffed white envelopes that for decades
>   have routinely oiled the country's wheels of business and
>   politics alike.
>A new target market?

My first reaction to this post was, "Are we supposed to feel sorry for these
people?" But then I realized that the real problem was giving other people
enough power over you that you depend on them to be honest.
--
  Edward Elhauge  |  "The only thing worse than being talked about
 Lever Industries |   is not being talked about."
   San Francisco  |              -- Oscar Wilde
   ee at lever.com   |