You are mixing two things - everyday corruption experienced by an average citizen and the top of the government corruption which arguably is even worse in the US than in some African countries because it is made legal and happens in plain sight
I really get tired of moral equivalence.
Some 20 years ago a representative of such a family wanted to go for a second term with the slogan of adding 100,000 people to the job market. We then turned all house cleaning jobs from black market to official by paying 3x the value of house cleaning work in subsidies to select businesses.
He is still lauded for the idea.
Corruption is just smarter over here.