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On Sunday morning’s Meet the Press, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon declared, “We were dead wrong,” with respect to a $2 billion (possibly $1 billion more) loss by the largest U.S. banking firm. Last month, with the loss in the rumor mill, Dimon called it a “complete tempest in a teapot.” Does anyone remember Enron, WorldCom, BP, Goldman Sachs, G.E., Merck,...

In less than two weeks in April, we learned of two high-profile scandals involving two government agencies. Both carry potential for serious repercussions based largely on how their respective leaders handled the crisis. The General Services Administration’s job is to support and manage the basic infrastructure of federal agencies by providing supplies, communications, offices, and transportation through “government-wide, cost-minimizing policies.” Apparently,...

… you opened the morning paper and discovered there were no ethics scandals in the news? No stories about cheating, lying, broken promises, bad faith excuses; no individual fudged the numbers, misled or deceived a co-worker, family member or friend? At the end of a recent talk, one person confided, “With all the ethics scandals going on, your talk could...

Fast-talking, mob-saving New York Lawyer Murray Richman famously said, “When the word is in your mouth, you are the master. When the word is out of your mouth, you are the slave.” Anyone who reads my commentaries with any regularity knows that I am a stickler for the facts. The facts played an important part in my research for my last...

Ahh, New York’s Columbia University… where the walls are ivy, the shirts are Ralph Lauren and the pedigree (alumni) includes five Founding Fathers, nine Supreme Court Justices, twenty-nine heads of state and three U.S. Presidents. It’s also where the Pulitzer Prize acknowledging excellence in journalism is administered each year. But wait, what’s this? As The New York Times reported (Dec. 3, 2006)...

The defense always seems the same. Enron’s Jeff Skilling: “I didn’t get the memo… notes… e-mails,” “I do not recall.” BP CEO Tony Hayward reacting to the worst oil spill in U.S. history: It’s “relatively tiny” compared to the “very big ocean.” Robert Murdoch tweeted: “No excuses for phone hacking. No argument. No excuses either for copyright stealing, but plenty of ignorant...

“It’s not the right thing to do, but I did it.” That’s 92-year-old Hyman Strachman, a World War II vet, after spending eight years and his own money duplicating and sending thousands, according to The New York Times, (Apr. 26) “hundreds of thousands of copies of The Hangover, Gran Torino and other first-run movies from his small Long Island apartment to ship overseas.” “And,...

From January 1 to December 31, 2007 I decided to search, read and clip all the ethics-related stories I could find from The New York Times and Washington Post. The final count totaled 1,657 ethics-related stories. That’s an average of 4.5 stories per day. Looking at today’s (Apr. 26) Times and Post, here’s what I found: The Times – Fall of Chinese Official...

When was the last time I devoted an entire commentary to citizenship? I don’t know. I do know that while I’m sitting here waiting to be called for jury duty, I’m thinking about the hundred other more satisfying things I could be doing with my time. I’m also reminded of the frustration I feel when I’m seated in the jury box, am...