From NBC News...(circa 2012)

"Nearly one-fourth of financial services professionals feel it’s at least sometimes necessary to do illegal or unethical things to be successful, and many are motivated to do so by fat bonuses and other compensation.

That’s according to a new survey of 500 U.S. and British fund managers, bankers, asset managers and other financial services professionals. It was conducted in June on behalf of the law firm Labaton Sucharow, which specializes in whistleblower cases.

Twenty-four percent of respondents said if you work in financial services you must at times engage in unethical or illegal activity to be successful.

On the bright side, 76 percent said you never need to break the law or experience a lapse in ethics in order to get ahead.

The motivation to cheat: For many, it’s the money.

The survey found that 30 percent of those in financial services feel pressure to do things that are unethical or illegal because of their compensation or bonus plans."

http://www.nbcnews.com/business/many-wall-street-think-cheating-breeds-success-873696

Financial services is just the latest shipping boy. Look at tort liability - manufacturers with memos in the file admitting disastrous product defects and covering it up to stay profitable. It is so commonplace I can't even remember yesterday's scandal. With all sorts of regulation falling, we need more tort lawyers. I reverse myself! Go to law school! (Lol)

In all seriousness, surveys like that are sad. Integrity by definition has no price.

On the bright side, 76 percent said you never need to break the law or experience a lapse in ethics in order to get ahead.

Well, maybe not SUCH a bright side, after all...

Is Your Boss a Psychopath? Fast Company, 2005.

The number one trait of Narcissists and Borderlines is that they simply cannot be truthful, so... maybe they weren't considering THEIR lapses into shady territory the same as, well, like a LAPSE in the layman's sense.

Hypothetically, I mean.

...down from 42% in 2011. (jk)

Are these numbers for Wall Street so terrible? Are they worse than for other professions?

Probably not, though it's worth noting that there really isn't anything illogical in that article from Fast Company, and that if anything, that particular 'method' of choosing management personnel and executives seems to have accelerated since.

I think one problem is that the Wall Street types can create a lot more havoc than a dishonest local business owner, as the recent mortgage meltdown, global recession, and bond rate manipulations have shown.

I'm not excusing dishonest business practices. I'm just saying that Wall Street should be held to higher standards because it can cause so much more destruction. Of course, we used to have laws that kept them from causing the kinds of damage I just cited, but there you are. I wish the government would bring back those laws.

Having worked in retail, then construction, and now as a realtor, within each industry the same issues exist. I am sure that if we look a little deeper in history, the same problems exist. Some may believe that placing government in charge will correct this, unions in charge will correct it, or the industry itself in charge will correct it. These are issues of individual choices no matter what the institution is; it boils down to personal morels and the accountability to others. I believe that systems that promote personal responsibility, with individual accountability work best. No system is perfect, but if you build the system that rewards good behavior (Choices) and dissuades bad behavior, over time this system should last. Systems that reward individuals work best, some have a Pollyanna view that we will make choices for the group over our own individual needs or wants, as much as I would like to believe this, (and try to live it) it’s not the way people behave now or anytime in the past. Self-interests are much of what governs our choices, systems that recognize this will have better results overall. That's my 2 cents.

Given the amount of cheating that appears to be institutionalized into the process of being selected to the colleges that feed Wall Street in the first place, is anyone surprised?

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?".

I'm sorry to say that I agree with this sentiment. Greed and self-interest are in vogue right now.

Agreed.

I also agree with Val (and MadeInUK). I wish I could disagree, but I have seen a lot of evidence to support the idea, and very very little that refutes it.

Makes me wonder why we're in this handbasket-- and where we're going...

Because we chose to get into the handbasket.

Where we're going is to the dining room where we will sit down to our banquet of consequences.

Oh, excellent!

I do love a good dinner party.