You see all the crustaceans. There’s some saying like that. When the world is in recession, you see all the fraud and corruption. In the states it’s Bernie Madoff and some $50 billion he waylaid. In India it’s Satyam, the huge software guys. Here it’s Sakvithi and the run on Lalith Kotelawala’s pockets. However, these macro collapses are paralleled by the micro. Every small/big business I know has opened their books to trim some fat and found rampant fraud. When the money was there no one noticed much but now, in the light of necessity, it’s shocking to see. People steal, they abuse and they generally behave unethically in business. Everyone from dudes in the kitchen sneaking sugar to accountants sneaking digits. In the heady days of yore they could lie hidden beneath the tide, but now they lay flapping on the shore.

For people like Ponzi hedge fund managers or CEOs of banks it’s so big as to be almost incomprehensible. For dudes stealing from the till or expense accounting bullshit it’s more real and infuriating. They say a rising tide lifts all boats, but they don’t talk about the rot that lies underneath.

Posted on Thursday, January 8th, 2009 in Behavioral Economics, economics.