Time for soul-searching in the bank vault

The “Libor” (London interbank offered rate) manipulation scandal has again raised the question of whether far too many corporate leaders today are moral runts, if not outright crooks. The seriousness of such a question sent economics writer Eduardo Porter of The New York Times looking for answers, and you can tell from the headline on his report that his findings were not encouraging: “The Spreading Scourge of Corporate Corruption.” Until a few decades ago, Earth held the promise of doing something that probably only Periclean Athens had ever tried before: build an enduring civilization truly for everyone. But Periclean Athens failed to endure because of its oligarchs: its sharks. Are we, too, about to blow it? Clearly, we’re running out of time for the global financial industry to make the LEAP!, especially in the realm of corporate ethics and standards of personal integrity.