Wall Street and financial institution greed and lies, combined with a serious lack of enforcement by government regulatory agencies, led to the nation's great recession, which began the last couple of years of the Bush-Cheney administration. Trying to justify why they short-circuited ethics and the law, many of the guilty whined that they were in a high-pressure job to perform, that others did it, that they thought it was all part of the corporate culture; the whine that if they were ethical, they wouldn't make as much money as expected, and probably wouldn't be promoted or possibly fired for not meeting production goals.
Some politicians also
cheat. In their case, the cheating could be by accepting gifts from lobbyists
or making promises that no one believes will be kept. But, for politicians, the
cheating is often to get campaign funds and benefits that might help grease a
re-election, which will lead to an even further need to cross ethical lines.
You don't have to be a corporate executive, go-go stock manipulator,
politician, or even a student to cheat. Just fill out your yearly IRS 1040. Just
as there are hundreds of ways students cheat, there are hundreds of ways
taxpayers and corporations can cheat on taxes, with the average taxpayer
believing it is perfectly acceptable to try to keep as much of every dollar earned
as possible. Thus, fudging deductions and under-reporting income have become
routine in many households. The IRS believes unreported income--which can be a
few hundred dollars in restaurant tips or "under the table" job income to a few
hundred thousand dollars stashed in a Cayman Islands bank--could be more than $4
billion a year.
Of course, cheating may be beneficial to others--if spouses didn't cheat, the entire country music industry could fall.
Nevertheless, If Tom Brady did cheat in deflategate--and we're not saying he did--he was just a part of a culture that is slowly losing its ethics and values in order to get results.
[Dr. Brasch is a journalist/social activist, and the author of 20 books. His latest book is Fracking America, an overall look at the process, effects, and numerous social issues of horizontal fracturing.]
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