Case study in thinly-disguised opportunity for corruption (emphasis added): The Mexican government’s
a $1.3 billion program to hand out close to 10.5 million flat-screen television sets to the country’s poor.
The government touted the program, aimed at low-income mothers, senior citizens and other welfare recipients, as a model of social inclusion and the best way to push the country forward from analog signals into the digital age. The number of televisions given away was equal to twice the sets Mexicans normally buy in a single year.
The TVs were given out last December, in time for the government to act as Santa Claus.
Where government billions go, corruption follows: no-bid contracts, import-duty exceptions, kickbacks, and loans from Mexico’s foreign trade development bank Bancomext.
Read the whole thing here.