The longest serving Republican Senator in history, Alaskan Senator Ted Stevens had his house searched yesterday by the FBI and IRS two months after the President of Alaska’s largest oil services company pled guilty to corruption.
On Sunday 60 Minutes reported on how several congressman forced through a Medicare bill very friendly to the drug industry and then took lucrative jobs with the drug industry.
Several reports say that Iraqi corruption of American money runs into the billions of dollars.
Corruption is part of human nature. But some countries have pretty much avoided it.
In a ranking of 160 countries by corrupt practices as perceived by business people and country analysts, Iceland, Finland, and New Zealand finished 1-2-3 in being clean. It turns out that having “land” at the end of your country name is a pretty good predictor of low corruption. Of the nine countries ending in land, six were in the top ten and only one was in the bottom half: Swaziland, at 105. By the way, Iraq came in at 139. And the US? Number 17, just missing out on the top 10%.
On a sad note, would Bill Walsh have allowed this to happen on his watch? And where’s Tom Snyder when we really need him? Maybe all our corruption problems will go away if we just changed the name of our country to something like Americaland.
Showing posts with label Iceland. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Iceland. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Monday, July 16, 2007
The tipping point
Jessica Osborne enjoyed serving Becky and her family every Friday at the Angola, Indiana Pizza Hut where she’s a waitress. Jessica had wanted to study photography at a local college but couldn’t get financial aid. Becky had problems, too: her husband and eldest daughter were killed in a car accident. Becky liked Jessica’s warm and consistently friendly manner, and wanted to help out with a large tip, and was able to after receiving a large settlement. The total bill amount was not made public but the tip percentage was probably in the neighbor hood of forty thousand percent: Becky’s tip was for $10,000.
Surveys of restaurant customers indicate an average tip of 15 to 20 percent; the national average is 18.6% of the total bill including tax; Philadelphia has the biggest tippers. One in twenty tip 25% or more, one in eight tip 10% or less, and one in fifty tip under 2%. By the way, restaurant service experts suggest that instead of punishing bad service with no tip, it’s better to complain to management.
Tipping goes way back in the USA: George Washington tipped his brother-in-law’s slaves in 1768. The earliest tipping records date to 16th century England, but tipping is likely as old as business itself.
But it’s not universal: in Australia, China, Denmark, Japan, and Iceland, restaurant tipping is the exception, not the rule. The reason: Researchers believe that consumer tipping behavior is motivated by the region’s social norms. Which brings us back to Indiana.
With customers like Becky, I don’t think Pizza Hut will have any trouble lining up a replacement for Jessica.
Surveys of restaurant customers indicate an average tip of 15 to 20 percent; the national average is 18.6% of the total bill including tax; Philadelphia has the biggest tippers. One in twenty tip 25% or more, one in eight tip 10% or less, and one in fifty tip under 2%. By the way, restaurant service experts suggest that instead of punishing bad service with no tip, it’s better to complain to management.
Tipping goes way back in the USA: George Washington tipped his brother-in-law’s slaves in 1768. The earliest tipping records date to 16th century England, but tipping is likely as old as business itself.
But it’s not universal: in Australia, China, Denmark, Japan, and Iceland, restaurant tipping is the exception, not the rule. The reason: Researchers believe that consumer tipping behavior is motivated by the region’s social norms. Which brings us back to Indiana.
With customers like Becky, I don’t think Pizza Hut will have any trouble lining up a replacement for Jessica.
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