From what I can see corruption and distorted standards exist almost all the way through American society from what I can see. There just doesn't seem to be any outrage or shame attached to it any longer.
It is almost like the 'broken window' theory concerning petty crime - if people see an ambient level of crime all around them then it becomes 'normal' so they will engage in behaviours that they might not if they didn't see them going on around them all of the time. I think that the same applies to society generally when CEO's and politicians become corrupted it leads many to say to themselves - "hey if they can do it then why don't I?".
