[pns]

Living as an American in Kenya give me a lot of perspective to what the logical endpoint is if certain government practices get put on steroids, such as this.

While in the United States it sounds alarmist to think of this all as a system of organized, police-mandated shakedowns, that's very common here. In 4 out of 5 times I hear folks get pulled over by cops, the driver had to pay a bribe. Police regularly go to businesses demanding regular payments else they shut down the companies.

I wouldn't have give this a second thought before, but after living here, I see what its like living under degraded institutions.

[SixSigma]

In India it is similar.

Also they (Indians) say "if you see a dead body don't call the police, you will end up in prison for murder"