The Ethical Barometer

Wang Yue, a toddler from China who had wandered away from her mother, was struck twice by one truck and then as she writhed in pain, struck again by another truck. As this little girl lay injured on the street, 18 people, over a period of 7 minutes, walked or rode their bicycles by, without stopping to help. Finally, an elderly scrap peddler stopped, dragged her to safety, and then found her mother. Little Yue-yue, as she has come to be known, clung to life via intubation for a few days and then left this life.

Many have offered explanations. None come close to a justification. One explanation is that Chinese culture teaches children to avoid trouble and not get involved. Rescuing a two-year-old tot is not the stuff of gang activity. But, others maintain, there is fear of liability. There have been a numbers of cases in China in which those who have helped the injured have been held liable for causing the injuries through the application of this brilliant analysis: Why else would you help someone if you didn’t hurt them in the first place? There are a few missing links between the post hoc and the propter hoc on that one. Some lawyers in China Continue reading →

Rachel Shteir has a new book, “The Steal: A Cultural History of Shoplifting.” The book explores the mental illness (kleptomania) angle as a cause for shoplifting. Psychopharmacology finds its way into root cause with discussion about a drug that helps alcoholics being used to bring shoplifters some relief. But, reading of the many examples, the shoplifter profiles, and descriptions of their booty gives some clues that go unexplored. A young man in Portland steals books from Barnes & Noble, “a conglomerate,” something he despises. One shoplifter with good taste only stole ties from Saks Fifth Avenue with a minimum retail price of $90. Some stole to give better gifts. Some are Winona Ryder and Lindsay Lohan.

Shoplifting is an odd crime, but it is a crime, Continue reading →

According to news reports, now former U.S. Mercedes-Benz CEO, Ernst Lieb, seems to have pulled the oldest tricks in the books: getting home repairs done at company expense and charging the company for personal travel. Why, the heads of carpentry shops and sales folks have been known to do the same. Somehow we expect something more creative from a CEO. Using the company’s shipping abilities to evade sales tax on art work. Financing your daughter’s Hollywood film career. Earning commissions from off-shore shell companies for selling the company assets. These are the stuff of CEO-level “iffy” expenses.

Creative though they may not have been, the alleged improper expenses felled Mr. Lieb. Daimler AG cut its successful CEO loose. These are tawdry allegations. Mercedes Continue reading →

Samuel Eshaghoff, a mere 19 years old, was arrested last week on charges of scheming to defraud, falsifying business records, and criminal impersonation. It seems that the Emory University freshman was paid $1,500 to $2,000 by five of his friends at Great Neck North High School in Nassau County, New York to take their SAT exams for them. A sixth student, a female, paid nothing, but Mr. Eshaghoff still took the test for her?? The Barometer is puzzled as to what consideration might have changed hands, as it were, in this transaction. One more puzzler for the Barometer: How did one Samuel Eshaghoof manage to sail by the proctors as a female high-school student? His photo shows him to be a strapping lad who has spent some time in the weight room. No wonder he was charged with criminal impersonation. Good to know that the monitoring of security on the college entrance exams is just aces these days.

How did New York authorities catch on? Well, Mr. Eshagohoff overdid it. He got the five students scores of 2200 out of 2400 possible on the exams, but the dunderheads who paid him Continue reading →

Bless their hearts, the folks at BP put in a new hotline at their Russian TNK-BP joint venture. Apparently, there was a great deal of pent-up frustration back in the former USSR. The results are stunning:
• 365 cases of bribery/corruption
• 37 resulting criminal cases
• 92 employees disciplined
Doing business in Russia is not for the faint-hearted, but it is good for the hotline stats. Also, such results mean permanent employment for compliance officers at BP and any other companies doing business in a land that has two quids for every quo. The silver lining is that BP employees feel comfortable raising the issues. That willingness to speak up is about 90% of the battle when it comes to ethical culture. Also, if one examines the Russian culture Continue reading →