The End of Ethics and a Way Back: How To Fix a Fundamentally Broken Global Financial System

Q & A with Ted Malloch

What does the end of ethics mean?
This book is about how we have lost virtue in our society, why it matters, what the arc of trust provides in markets, as well as a close look at the worst of the worst cases of economic vice.
But it is not about just a glass that is half empty. It is about refilling the glass -- that is the core of this book. Without all of our diligent efforts at the personal, corporate, cultural and societal levels we will fall further into the abyss. It is about restoring the radius of trust, overcoming the Bell thesis, and regaining what Ropke argued in his seminal work on The Humane Economy, namely, the fact that without honesty and trust the market degenerates and our economy (now global in nature) will spin out of control.

Why should readers care about economic vice?
This book grew out of a lifetime of thinking and work experiences. We both witnessed what appeared at first to be the misdeeds of a 'few rotten apples' but in the last decade spurned a devastating global credit crisis with devastating impacts. The problem is now systemic. That troubles us, deeply and it affects everyone.

How can we find the way back?
The book identifies solutions to problems deeply embedded in global markets, corporate cultures, and interpersonal business dealings. The recommendations are designed to provide a roadmap for an essential return to ethics, virtue, and sustainable global economic growth. They are market based but require major changes on all fronts. They revolve around personal responsibility and character, corporate culture and regulatory frameworks.
The targeted goal must be to rebuild the international bridges of economic vitality, increase competition, develop investor trust especially in the banking system, and focus upon our own ethical awareness as global citizens.
There exists an overwhelming and systemic need to overcome economic vice with virtue. Restoration of shareholder trust in the corporate modality is imperative so that free markets and people everywhere can prosper.

Why did you write this book?
It is fundamentally necessary to find the map that leads us out of the vice-ridden maze we have created.
Yet, in order to find the way back, we must become uncomfortable where we are now.
We must not blame others for our current ethical malaise because, on a systemic level, vice has consumed us. The straw men villains 24-hour media has created whether CEO's, Presidents, Politicians, Celebrities, or Sports leader only exhibit the values that we all have accepted on a global level.
Greed is everywhere.
Lambast Gordon Gekko all you want as an out of control glutton, yet, he has his progeny all over the world. This is accepted. This is the new normal.
We can no longer look to our governments for virtue and pragmatism. They have uniformly betrayed us. Indeed, nearly every post-industrial nation is battling gigantic black holes of public debt. This massive debt could have been easily avoided through prudential sustainability. Yet, world governments have discharged their immense responsibilities as public stewards.
They have unremorsefully maxed out their own credit cards which, unfortunately never had a limit and (still do not). Rationalizing out of control spending when you do not have the money to pay for such costs, now, or ever, is a heinous betrayal of public duties and a manifestation of the classical seven deadly sins on a grand scale.
Sadly, eventual consequences are never considered. Not enough companies, governments, and individuals consider long-term investment. Money changes hands like tissue paper. Credit, debt, and risk for the purpose short-term prosperity have become a tragic universal maxim.
The cases in the first section of the book demonstrate the manifestation of the seven deadly sins in the corporate environment. These sins, once used as a tool to instruct and understand our own weaknesses and temptations, and become better human beings, are now celebrated as beacons of supposed success.
Being "rich" greedy, prideful, gluttonous, wrathful, envious, lazy and obsessed with lust, is no longer frowned upon, it is widely celebrated. Deadly vices are no longer seen as evil outcomes, they are now retained societal norms.