Robbins works smoothly and invisibly, with a diffident charm that belies his talent for larceny.

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Finally, as Forbes.com editor Paul Maidment emailed to me yesterday, the Danish infrastructure works smoothly, efficiently and even civillly.

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Alberto Alonso Criollo, a political scientist at the local Vasconcelos University, says the old patronage system still works fairly smoothly in a place where the state government is one of the few sources of jobs and money.

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