Insider Trading Compromises the Level Playing Field for Average Investors I previously blogged about the role of Raj Rajaratnam in the Goldman Sachs insider trading scandal. Last week Rajaratnam was convicted on all 14 counts of securities fraud and conspiracy in the biggest insider-trading case ever. The case centered on... Read more →

Facebook, Google Engage in Unethical Actions The social media sites Facebook and Google act as though the rules do not apply to them or it's too much for them to conform to expected standards of behavior. This past week we learned that Facebook engaged in a covert smear campaign against... Read more →

Ethics Resources for Academics and Business Professionals Business ethics researchers may want to check out the Ethics Resource Link on my blog site (http://www.ethicssage.com/) that identifies over thirty websites where you can obtain free information about ethics research, business ethics programs, codes of conduct, on-line ethics magazines, newsletters and other... Read more →

What Does it Really Mean to Kick the Can Down the Road? I keep hearing politicians use the phrase "kicking the can down the road." Right after he got elected, President Obama said, "What I'm refusing to do and what I've instructed my staff that we will not do is... Read more →

Cultural Values and Untapped Resources Promote African Development The U.S. has a moral imperative in Africa. That was the subject of a previous blog (http://bit.ly/fWcYTQ.) Today I look at emerging economic development in once was a forgotten-continent. The drivers of increased economic development include: (1) untapped resources and the desire... Read more →

Corruption: How it corrodes Brand India It's called ghoos (घूस) in Hindi, mordid in some Spanish speaking countries, and baksheesh in some Near Eastern countries. In the U.S., bribery constitutes a crime and is defined by Black's Law Dictionary as the offering, giving, receiving, or soliciting of any item of... Read more →

It’s Time to Elevate Societal Interests through an Ombudsman Process We need to do something in the U.S. before our system of government falls part under the weight of fraud, corruption, waste, mismanagement, and indifference to the public good. I recommend adopting an ombudsman process. The ombudsman has been around... Read more →

AIG's March 31 Quarterly Earnings Misleading Investors AIG's reported "normalized earnings" for the quarter ending March 31, 2011 is anything but normal. Don't get me wrong. The company takes the same liberties as most others and defines normal however it wants. There are no specific accounting rules on how to... Read more →

Leaders Are Made Rather Than Born Today our colleges and universities are failing to instill the skills needed to reverse the trend of the past twenty years whereby U.S. businesses routinely have placed their self-interests ahead of the interests of society. Corporate “leaders” think only in the short-term while ignoring... Read more →

Corporate Governance Failure of Buffet Is Warren Buffet throwing former Berkshire Hathaway executive David Sokol under the bus as a human sacrifice? Buffet has been criticized for failing to ask the right questions and act to block the company's acquisition of Lubrizol just weeks after Sokol bought 96,060 Lubrizol shares... Read more →