greed and incompetence

There are many factors at play in the world today. Greed and incompetence are two that are at play in every culture and place on earth it seems. Greed - there are those who are simply not concerned about any other factor other than their own situation. It is entirely about them . . . at every level. There is actually no other element to those folks, except themselves. Greed. We don't have much tolerance for these types of folks, yet how do they continue to proliferate?

The other side is incompetence. We generally have more patience with these folks because they are often nice people who have the best intentions. But incompetence is a plague on this world. Poor quality, shoddy work, marginal materials, missed schedules and timelines, and outright lies are part and parcel of this phenomena. If you have ever lived in the third world, you live with the results of greed and incompetence every day. It ain't much fun.

Outcomes are what we are talking about. The outcome from greed and /or incompetence is exactly the same - bad. The person paying for it loses every time. While in North America you have to watch out for greed and incompetence to a point, yet for the most part there is a judicial system in place, along with contracts and laws, that are designed to protect both parties. None of that exists here. Oh, we have a judiciary . . . but the person with the most power wins almost every single time . . . not the person who is in the right. And yes we have contracts here, but they are generally worth less than the paper they are written upon.

The saving grace in a place like the hairy armpit is the general honesty of the population. How many times have we lost something, or forgotten our purse or keys and have someone return them to us? I have lost count of the times, and that is good. Great even. Sunday, the kids went out of the house and left our front door wide open. Five hours later when we came home, all was well (apart from having a cold house). But what I wouldn't give for a decent plumber who can listen, and actually admit when he is wrong and has no idea what he is doing.