White Collar Crime
It’s Character, Not Free Enterprise
By Daniel Muniz

White collar crime such as someone trying to make a fast buck by cooking the books has always been a staple of the free enterprise system. People get hurt because money that should be part of a company’s financial resources is missing and unavailable for ongoing operations resulting in investors losing their investments, employees losing their jobs, creditors not being paid, and even the financial downfall of a corporation.

In other words, it is stealing.

Although accounting standards have greatly improved unscrupulous people still have found ways to circumvent the system, especially when they can get outsiders like auditors to cooperate. And the unending string of scandals beginning in 2001 with the collapse of Enron brought corporate crime to center stage in the press. The media pounced on corrupt CEOs who were responsible for bringing large corporations to the brink of disaster. However, the press unfairly rendered a grossly inaccurate indictment of the free market because of the bad apples.
 

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What these people did was wrong but that doesn’t mean that free enterprise is bad. The same kind of swindling already is commonplace in socialist economies so implementing governmental micromanagement on our free market is not going to solve the problem of corruption.

These crimes are the result of character issues.

That’s right! People who were already pre-disposed to putting their hand in the cookie jar as kids are the same people who are going to cook the books as a powerful executive. They were corrupt to begin with and it is entirely irrelevant what kind of work they are doing either as a CEO or as a janitor because they are going to try to find a way to beat the system. These individuals lack the universal values of integrity, honesty, and responsibility.

Unfortunately, the media doesn’t look at it that way.

Instead, the press demonized the economic system that made America a wealthy powerhouse while refusing to focus on the moral imperfections of the human race.

With rare exceptions, many private sector companies are far more concerned with employee theft than with other external factors. In fact, plenty of companies devote a considerable amount of effort to implement better internal controls to deter or prevent their own workers from stealing from them. Employee theft is actually a huge problem for a company of any size because human character traits come into play. And with generations of diminishing moral values, these kinds of problems are just going to get bigger.

The only difference between the Joe Schmoe rank and file employee and a corrupt CEO is that the executive has the ability to steal huge amounts of money resulting in headlines. This capability to ruin the financial viability of a corporation has far more sensationalism to the press than petty thievery.

The bottom line is that stealing is still wrong but the media doesn’t care unless it is an executive who is doing it.

And that blatant omission is beginning to have an impact on our public justice system. What used to be a slap on the wrist for white collar criminals that usually ended up with a brief stay at a country club style correctional facility is now turning into decades of hard time in a real prison. And since many of these CEOs are middle-aged or older, such punishment is tantamount to a life sentence.

Incidentally, supporters of harsh white collar punishment even felt cheated when Enron founder Kenneth L. Lay suddenly died before getting his chance to rot in prison. They got justice in the courtroom but it didn’t pan out that way in a prison cell.

I in no way disagree with the severity of the sentences of white collar crime that is now becoming commonplace in our judicial system. What these executives did was wrong and their nefarious activity destroyed hundreds if not thousands of lives. But what I do have a problem with is how our press conveniently overlooks the very human character traits that created these problems.

Greed and dishonesty already exists in plenty of ordinary people, not just for CEOs.

The media is presenting a very unbalanced view of the world when they incessantly hound corrupt executives. They fail to realize that these people are going to steal regardless of whether they work at a minimum wage job or as a president of a company. It is strictly a character issue based on morals and universal values.

There are plenty of executives who are honest people. They follow the law and dictates of their conscience when it comes to exercising judgment. They also pay their taxes and donate to charities. In fact, many CEOs are no different than ordinary people when it comes to morality. It is their personal decisions, not the free enterprise system that is the source of corporate crime.

It is time for the media to abandon their unfair stereotype and let go of their prejudices and stereotypes. Popular culture has already stoked this image with unsavory caricatures of greedy businessmen. Yes, there are CEOs who are bad people but just like the rest of humanity; it depends entirely on the content of your character.

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