A quote from Ayn Rand's "Atlas Shrugged", a concise assessment for today

corruption rewarded and honesty sacraficed...

When you see that in order to produce, you need to obtain permission from men who produce nothing - When you see that money is flowing to those who deal, not in goods, but in favors - When you see that men get richer by graft and by pull than by work, and your laws don’t protect you against them, but protect them against you - When you see corruption being rewarded and honesty becoming a self-sacrifice - You may know that your society is doomed.”
 Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged, 1957