(01-18-2020 06:12 PM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  

(01-18-2020 05:25 PM)RiceLad15 Wrote:  So, in short, if US-connected company #1 wants to do business honestly in a host country that runs on bribery, we should have the position that says, “sucks to be you,” and allow US-connected company #2, which is less ethical, bribe their way to the top? So we should be turning a blind eye to, and effectually encouraging, corruption?

First, I'm not aware of any country where out-and-out bribery is legal. There are differing levels of what is acceptable and what is not. Do we want to make large parts of the world inaccessible to US companies in order to impose our concepts of morality on everyone else? That is not an effective way to make friends and influence people.

Quote:It makes way more sense to take the position that companies doing business in the US are going to be held to a higher standard when they operate outside the US. This will encourage countries to change their practices if they want to do business with America (which they obviously do), because they won’t have access to high-end firms that won’t risk their access to the American market or profits.

No, it will just encourage European and Asian companies to mock and laugh at US companies, as they are taking business away from them--just like now. And it will encourage the people of those foreign countries to resent our efforts to impose our concept of morality upon them--just like now.

Quote:The FCPA is not enforced on American based companies, so we’re able to use the allure of access to the American market to influence how firms like Siemens and Alstom operate (they have been fined hefty sums via the FCPA).

Not enforced on American-based companies? What do you mean by that?

To the last item - the FCPA is enforced on companies that do business in America. They do not have to be based in the US to be fined. Hence how Siemens and Alstom were fined.

Quote: Until the early 2000s, the FCPA was rarely enforced. But all of that has changed; some of the most significant U.S. corporate criminal prosecutions of recent years have involved FCPA violations. Many of these have involved foreign companies. For example, in 2008, the German company Siemens paid approximately $800 million to DOJ and the Securities and Exchange Commission to settle FCPA charges. In 2014, the French company Alstom paid $772 million to settle FCPA charges. According to one authoritative source, eight of the top 10 FCPA settlements (as measured by the fines imposed) involved foreign companies.

https://www.afsa.org/fcpa-and-rule-law-abroad

So why does the FCPA encourage foreign-based companies to laugh at US-based ones, when they are being held to the same standard?????