The Cheating Culture: Why More Americans Are Doing Wrong to Get Ahead [Hardcover]

Edit of 20 Dec 07 to add links.

I recommend that this book be read together with John Perkins, Confessions of an Economic Hit Man and William Greider's, The Soul of Capitalism: Opening Paths to a Moral Economy. As a pre-amble, I would note that a Nobel Prize was given in the late 1990's to a man that demonstrates that trust lowers the cost of doing business. Morality matters--immorality imposes a pervasive sustained, insidious, long-term, and ultimately fatal cost on any community, any Republic, and that is the core message of this book that most reviewers seem to be missing.

Any student of national security can tell you that one of the most important sources of national power is the population, followed by the economy, natural resources, and then the more traditional sources of national power: diplomacy, military, law enforcement, and government policies generally.

What this author makes clear is that our population has become a cheating population, one that cheats in school, cheats their employer, and cheats their clients (lawyers, accountants, doctors, all cheating). Such a population is literally undermining national security by creating false values, and undermining true values. Some simple examples: an estimated $250 Billion a year in individual tax avoidance; an estimated $600 Billion a year in theft from employers; an estimated $250 Billion a year in legalized corporate tax avoidance and investor fraud; and an additional $250 Billion a year in legalized theft form the individual taxpayers through Congressional support for unnecessary and ill-advised "subsidies" for agriculture, fishing, and forestry, as well as waivers of environmental standards that ultimately result in long-term external diseconomies...

At root, the author observes that pervasive cheating ensues from the perception by the majority that "everyone does it" and that the rules are not being enforced--that "the system" lacks legitimacy. In other countries, illegitimacy might lead to revolution, a revolt of the masses. In the USA, still a very rich country, the poor are cheating on the margins while the rich are looting the country, and we are not yet at a "tipping point" such as a new Great Depression might inspire.

This is a thoughtful book, and it does not deserve the negative comments from those whom the book most likely is describing all too well. Cheating diminishes trust and reduces value. America has become corrupt across all the professions, within Congress, within the media, within the political level of government (the civil service remains a bastion of propriety).

What price freedom? What price the Republic? You may or may not choose to agree with this author's diagnosis and prescription, but in my view, he gets to the heart of the matter. It's about integrity. We've lost it.

See also, with reviews:
The Battle for the Soul of Capitalism: How the Financial System Underminded Social Ideals, Damaged Trust in the Markets, Robbed Investors of Trillions - and What to Do About It
The Fifty-Year Wound: How America's Cold War Victory Has Shaped Our World
The Global Class War: How America's Bipartisan Elite Lost Our Future - and What It Will Take to Win It Back
War on the Middle Class: How the Government, Big Business, and Special Interest Groups Are Waging War onthe American Dream and How to Fight Back
The Working Poor: Invisible in America
Off the Books: The Underground Economy of the Urban Poor

In today's society, steroid-enhanced sports figures cork their bats, while corporate executives cook their books. In the days after 9/11, banking institutions whose networking system crashed saw their clients draw out millions of dollars they did not own. Parents push to have their children wrongfully diagnosed with learning disorders so they can have extended time on tests. Lawyers exaggerate expense reports; doctors get kick-backs for promoting vitamins; and commission-based mechanics work to find expensive problems on well-running vehicles.

All of these issues are discussed in David Callahan's "The Cheating Culture", as he tries to explain the boom in recent years of Americans trying to get ahead in life by dishonest actions.

One would think this author would find much in common with Bill Bennett, who recently published a book on the moral collapse of America. But if Bennett's book speaks to conservatives, "The Cheating Culture" is meant for liberals.

The author believes our current culture developed its morality during the "me-first" decade of the 1980s. Capitalism, according to the author, removes the socialist notions of caring for the community and doing what is right, replacing them with a Darwinist desire to win at all costs. Add to the overwhelming desire to crush enemies in a capitalist world is the riches that await those who succeed and it is easy to see why people cork bats, inflate expense reports, etc.

So, who is right? Bennett or Callahan? I enjoyed both books and think both authors make many credible points. Reading both books will give a reader not only two different theories on the moral decline in America, but will also show some fundamental differences in the ways conservatives and liberals think and argue.

The Cheating Culture describes an America where 74% of high school students have cheated on an exam, where parents pull strings to get their toddlers into the best pre-schools, and where it is standard practice to pad one's resume with non-existent degrees. Otherwise honest people under-report their taxes, splice into free cable TV, and over-report their insurance losses. Why do they do it?

David Callahan sees several reasons. One is that in the Winner-Take-All Society (brilliantly described by Robert Frank in his book of the same name), the rewards are huge. Another is that the risks are small -- even when people are caught cheating, there is little repurcussion. And in a society where so many are cheating, we are at a disadvantage if we don't cheat, too.

Most of the book is taken up with describing the (often fascinating) ways people cheat and what are the consequences, to the individual and to the community. When Callahan finally comes to what to do about this pervasive problem, he can only come up with rather mild suggestions. Parents should teach their children to do right, schools and businesses should conduct courses in ethics, the individual should "be a chump" and resist cheating and turn in anyone who does cheat.

This reminds me of the Seinfeld episode where Elaine threatens a cheating Jerry by saying "Someday, something bad is gonna happen to you!" and Jerry shrugs her off with "No, I'm gonna be fine."

In a perfect world, things would even out, and cheaters would get their due. In the real world, Kenneth Lay gets to keep his mansion and may never go to jail.