national embarrassment

As it does every year, Transparency International analyzed 176 countries to rank where corruption runs most rampant. In countries like Denmark, Finland, and New Zealand, for example, the rates are very low. The most corrupt are Afghanistan, North Korea, and Somalia.

Brazil continues to be a disgrace, occupying the 69th position. Corruption remains a national problem. A shame! Latin American countries like Chile and Uruguay are considered less corrupt than Brazil.

As the organization consistently points out, corruption in large public projects is one of the biggest channels for the misappropriation of public funds and represents a major obstacle to a country's development. Resources stolen from public coffers reduce investments in vital areas such as health and education, and in actions to combat poverty.

It is sad, revolting, and worrying what happens to the hard-earned money of Brazilian taxpayers given to the public sector. The middle class can no longer bear paying so much tax and seeing a large portion of it go down the enormous drain of corruption. To make matters worse, they suffer the terrible effects of increased poverty caused by a lack of social investment.

In recent years, actions undertaken by the Federal Police and the Public Prosecutor's Office have dismantled criminal gangs operating in different segments of public life. However, it seems that the impact caused by the scale of the crimes investigated represents only a small fraction of the shady dealings that still occur in the underworld of public life.

Brazil needs to undertake a massive cleanup of its institutions. It is necessary to combat this malignant tumor ingrained in public life that is corruption. It is unacceptable that Brazilians have to work more than four months a year to fill public coffers while a minority unscrupulously and surreptitiously appropriates part of these resources.

The principle of budget constraint applies to any economic agent. More than just growth, the country needs to rescue a huge marginalized segment of the population. All of this demands resources that need to be applied effectively and efficiently. With public budgets already insufficient to meet the great social demand, it becomes dramatic to invest when corruption eats away at part of the money.

Both large-scale corruption, involving vast sums such as overpricing of public works and fraud in bidding processes and tenders, as well as small-scale corruption, resulting in relatively low amounts of bribes and kickbacks, are increasingly condemning people to material, moral, and intellectual misery.

At some point, Brazil will have to undergo a cleansing. The moral degradation of those who should be safeguarding efficiency in public administration and the quality of life of citizens is contributing to the proliferation of violence and ignorance.