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Shelby: Lack of ethics at root of problems

Posted by: JIM SHELBY

Posted on: January 11, 2010

Jim Shelby,
Published Sunday, January 10, 2010

There are many topics a columnist can write about: health care legislation, the national deficit, Wall Street corruption, failure of Congress to finalize our taxes for 2010, the war on terrorism, our local and state political situations, and so on.

In thinking about which of these to address, it occurred to me that many of the problems we have in these areas result from the lack of ethical and moral actions and behavior by our leaders.

There is continuing debate about the ethical standards of our leaders in all areas of society. The Society of Certified Public Accountants and its state governing board have passed rules requiring mandatory training in ethics. The bar association has done the same for attorneys. Business schools also have incorporated such training, like the business governance program at the University of Tennessee led by former business college dean Warren Neel.

The Internal Revenue Service has issued a ruling called Circular 230 that is supposed to tell tax practitioners, accountants, and others what kind of advice they can give taxpayers.

Does all of this work? Hardly. Just begin with our local leaders and then go forward to Illinois, South Carolina, Louisiana and New York and all of the recent ethics violations there. People in violation of good ethics and morals in those states were supposed to live up to high expectations. Unfortunately, all situations did not result in the violators suffering approximate consequences.

A great example of a lack of ethical behavior is the actions of our Congress in 2009. Some of the deals cut in order to get legislation passed were downright bribery as I was taught how bribery is defined. It seems this type of behavior is beginning to permeate the entire Congress. I always have been taught that the standards of any organization, be it business, public welfare, or government is determined by its leaders. I leave it up to you to determine what kind of standards our leaders are setting for us in this country. In the past year, Pope Benedict XVI called for a world financial order guided by ethics and not a profit-at-all cost approach.

Each of us develops a value system to help determine how we will react in situations that affect other people. One author I read concluded that the source of ethical practice comes from religion, which defines the "thou shalt and thou shalt not" rules that are then developed into legal codes. In today's world, personal ethics are tempered by the complexities of modern life. What is right and wrong in one country of the world may not be the same in another.

I read that being ethical is being true to the person next to you. Is that being practiced in this country, or has the desire for personal power and greed taken over?

On the U.S. Military Academy at West Point's Web site, there is an explanation of the academy's honor code. It says "An officer who is not trustworthy cannot be tolerated; in some professions the cost of dishonesty is measured in dollars - in the Army the cost is measured in human lives."

Our leaders should take this phrase to heart.

Jim Shelby is executive vice president of The Trust Co., a state-chartered bank in Knoxville that manages trusts.