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"Since Gallup began measuring public trust in 1976, 19% of people polled have held a 'very high' or 'high' opinion of the honesty and ethics of business executives. Public trust of congressmen has been even feebler, averaging just 15%," an all-time low reached in 2008 at 12% for both, unsurprising in the post-bubble economy, the 2009 Edelman Trust Barometer saying 84% of the public blames business, 81% government and regulators they appoint.
In their "Handbook of Organizational Performance: Behavior Analysis and Management," editors C. Merle Johnson, William K Redmon, and Thomas C. Mawhinney, included an "Ethics and Business" section, explaining distrust toward business from antiquity. More recently in the 1950s and 60s:
"old horror stories about sweatshops and child labor were replaced by fear and anger toward the 'military-industrial complex.' In the 1980s, people (like anthropologist) Marvin Harris argued that (oligopolies increasing bureaucracy), and a shift to a service-and-information economy were the root causes of most of our social and personal problems." He omitted the financialization of America. Even then, Wall Street bankers dominated, running the country by controlling its money.
In the 1980s and 90s, numerous scandals erupted, including savings and loan fraud, insider trading, illicit deals with foreign governments, and public figures on the take. Although business and government officials claim ethics standards, scant evidence shows they practice them, the public finding out when corruption and other improprieties surface, reinforcing John Acton's maxim that:
"Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men," especially in business, government, and the military, environments fostering wrongdoing.
New People for the American Way (PFAW) Survey
Conducted in June, it showed:
-- deep dissatisfaction with the political system;
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