Guest Column
How “entitlement” abets corruption
- How “entitlement” abets corruption
- By Kenneth Emmond
- The Herald Mexico/El Universal
April 30, 2007
Paul Wolfowitz has it. Paris Hilton does, too. Lord Black of Crossharbour has it in spades. And so, it would seem, does Mexico´s José Ángel Gurría.
What each of these people has is a sense of entitlement — the notion that they are allowed to do things with impunity that ordinary mortals cannot.
The sense of entitlement has been around since the beginning of the class system — back when there really was entitlement — so why write about it now?
Because, when a society like Mexico becomes democratic, its foundation is the notion that everyone is equal and deserves equal treatment. In democratic times a sense of entitlement is out of place.
Wolfowitz, who´s president of the World Bank, is hanging onto his job "by his fingernails," as one pundit indelicately put it, because of arrangements he made for his girlfriend, Shaha Ali Riza.
Wolfowitz relocated her from her senior World Bank position to avoid possible conflicts of interest when he became president. He arranged a post for her in the U.S. State Department, but her pay raise eclipsed the salary of her new boss, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
Hilton, the hotel heiress, one-time porn star, and purveyor of luxury goods, thought it was OK to drive her car after her license was suspended. Having been caught driving with no license and under the influence, she faces a possible 90-day jail sentence.
Conrad Black, or Lord Black as he prefers to be known since he gave up his Canadian citizenship to accept a British peerage, is fighting for his freedom in a Chicago courtroom. The former media baron is accused of illegally pocketing millions of dollars of "no compete" payments instead of sharing them with shareholders after selling his company´s newspapers.
Which brings us to Gurría. As an alumnus of the University of Leeds in Britain and of Harvard, it´s fair to surmise that he grew up with all the upper-class comforts.
When he was Finance Secretary under former President Ernesto Zedillo in the 1990s, he won international acclaim for helping Mexico emerge from the 1994-95 financial crisis.
The media called him "Señor Scissorhands" as he maintained fiscal discipline with remorseless budget-slashing after world oil prices plunged, pushing down government revenues.
This time his headlines aren´t so friendly. In an April 19 article The Economist, a weekly business magazine, pilloried him for nepotism — and, ironically, for excessive spending.
Gurría, 56, was appointed secretary-general of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) last June.
The Economist reported that a group of OECD ambassadors recently summoned Gurría to a special meeting to discuss several appointments he had made. "To some these ran the risk of a perception of nepotism and cronyism," it said.
It said Gurría began his tenure with a hefty boost in salary and benefits, adding that officials were startled at his "appetite for corporate hospitality" and appalled at his "apparent favoritism."
The article´s timing couldn´t have been worse for Gurría, just days after the Wolfowitz scandal broke. His predecessor, Canadian lawyer and former federal cabinet minister Donald Johnston, had been scrupulous about trimming waste and extravagance at the OECD during his 10-year tenure.
The Economist´s accusations elicited an immediate response. Gurría posted a spirited defense on the OECD web site the day after the article appeared.
"I have spoken out vigorously in favor of international efforts to fight the scourge of corruption in the global economy," his letter said. "I am equally determined to root out any hint of favoritism or corruption within the OECD Secretariat."
It´s not that that those who feel entitled are evil. It´s that they´re anachronisms, with a sense of propriety that´s out of synch with the times. Some of the things they do are harmful, to others if not to society — and illegal.
Lord Black may have bilked his shareholders; a jury will decide that in due course. Wolfowitz has demoralized the World Bank´s 2,200 staff members. Though Hilton didn´t cause an accident and hurt anyone she set a dubious example of comportment for her admirers.
As we learn in his reply, Gurría doesn´t see anything wrong with what he did, and no one is accusing him of breaking a law. We´ll never know what perks he provided for family and friends when he was Finance Secretary.
The point of all this is the insidious nature of high-level corruption. The sense of entitlement is used as license to push the legal envelope.
In Mexico, the class system has been around since the days of the Aztecs and only now is starting to break down. Mexicans´ attitude toward corruption is rooted in the class system and wedded to the attitude of entitlement.
In the past, family lineage was the main source of "entitlement;" today wealth is a driving force. Hilton is third-generation wealthy; her grandfather made the family fortune. Wolfowitz, though highly paid, is from the middle class. Lord Black, whose father worked for wealthy people, is "entitled" only because he bought the title.
The words and actions of Wolfowitz, Hilton, Black, and Gurría illustrate how people with a sense of entitlement warp the concept of corruption and how to conquer it.
It´s time we outgrew it.
Kenneth Emmond is a freelance journalist and economist who has lived in Mexico since 1995. You can reach him at kemmond00@yahoo.com.
Article at: http://www.mexiconews.com.mx/24437.html
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