[DontGiveTwoFlux]

I disagree. US companies can have such an outsized impact by the volume of money they bring, that it can create a moral vacuum that sucks up all the air in a place. Everyone has a price, and when the price is in dollars it may be surprisingly low for the less well off. Someone ought to police it.

Furthermore, bribery abroad may undermine US interests and policies. It’s easy to see why companies would want to pay a bribe to build a store in Brazil (mentioned in the article). Compared to the other costs involved it’s probably pretty cheap and can really speed things up. But that million dollars (or whatever) feeds a system that seeks its own remuneration over serving it’s constituents. It’s not just someone else’s problem. It helps to paper over the enormous drag this rent seeking behavior has on everyone.

Furthermore, the law gives employees a basis to stand on to say no. Now I don’t know if there’s really much to that- I’ve never been propositioned for a bribe, but I imagine that being able to say I can’t, it’s illegal, would help me to say no.