Wealth and sin: examining greed in corporate fraud cases

¶ … rich are actually sinners. This is due to the fact money creates greed. When some people have access to more money, greed becomes intensified since it can help them to do whatever they want regardless what others think. Furthermore, some people believe money gives power and with it, they think they are above the law. For example, in the corporate business world, there have been many scandals that the manager or CEO have been sent to jail because they stole million of dollars from their companies. To further prove the rich are sinners, Martha Stewart pretended that she did not know she was committing fraud when she was sentenced to prison. It seems that the richer a person is, it is more likely that they will commit some kind of crime, which makes them sinners.

Corporate world

Along with that, in the case of the company, Enron, it is apparent that the rich are sinners. "In early 2000, Enron, the natural gas pipeline company turned online phenomenon, held a daylong conference in Houston for Wall Street analysts and investors. The audience, packed with financial experts on the natural gas and power industries, was wowed by all the talk of Enron's online capabilities, especially its rapidly growing business of electronically matching buyers and sellers of numerous commodities like electricity and even network bandwidth. The analysts were particularly receptive when Jeffrey Skilling, then Enron's president, suggested that the company's money-losing broadband network business alone was worth $29 billion, or an extra $37 a share. He even had a nifty PowerPoint slide to explain his company's proper stock price. Unsurprisingly, Enron's shares skyrocketed by more than 50% in the first half of that year. Enron, it seems, had become an Internet company, and decidedly old-economy energy-industry analysts were loath to be left behind. Many openly acknowledged their lack of understanding of Enron's new lines of business" (the ENRON SCANDAL). From there, with the CEO of Enron stealing money from the company, it is clear that the rich are sinners because greed is a sin; greed was present in this situation.

In the case of Enron, employees were upset with the way management was handling business decisions. They felt that they were not being guided properly in order to be a successful employee at the company. This shows that the employees were being told all different things and did not have one strategy that they need to follow. It has been told that they had a big picture that they needed to achieve which was customer intimacy. The manager needed to not only formulate a strategy on how to achieve the big picture but also a monthly guide so each employee knew exactly what they needed to do to be successful. Once the employees are given this information it is their responsibility to run with it. However, the manager was too busy with his own corrupt behavior that he could not be a good manager. To be so self-involved with his own dark side, it is clear that this rich CEO is a sinner because he cared for himself too much without caring for others.

Another rich sinner would be the man who is involved in Tyco International that damaged the company for his own greed to gain more money.

Kozlowski has damaged the Company in a variety of ways, including the following: a. Misappropriating for himself over $100 million that he was not authorized to receive; b. Wrongfully diverting to others millions of dollars in cash and stock, used to induce their cooperation or buy their silence. Failing to provide faithful and competent services that were the consideration for his authorized compensation; d. Inducing other officers and agents to fail to provide the faithful and competent services they were obligated to provide to the Company. Damaging the Company's reputation and relationships with investors, employees, lenders, customers and suppliers, public authorities and the public generally took place because of his actions (TYCO INTERNATIONAL LTD).

Rich young adults

Unfortunately, those who are rich do not care about others' well being because they are so self-absorbed especially when they are young and have their parents' credit card. These young immature adults are in high school and college that mostly engage in activities that cause others pain or embarrassment. For example, they may act in the activity hazing for their own amusement. Hazing may cause serious harm to some students, which may school ill not allow the practice or have certain rules for it according to their standards. According to Harvard's student handbook, people who conduct the hazing practice will be held responsible for what happens even though it happens to a lot of people, which indicates it id a standard process (Preventing Hazing at Harvard).

People will argue that others want to be victims of hazing because it is apart of the educational culture and most individuals had been through it (the Hazing Reader). Furthermore, some believe that it is no big deal until someone becomes seriously injured or found dead especially when they can buy their way out of trouble, which makes them sinners.

Conclusion

It can be concluded that money creates greed and power, which ultimately causes people to sin in order to satisfy themselves. When some people have access to more money, they believe it can give them power. In this essay, it has been proven that throughout history and modern day society, rich people have been sinners and will continue to be because they cannot learn the lesson that they are not above the law.

For example, there have been many scandals that the manager or CEO have been sent to jail because they stole million of dollars from their companies. To further prove the rich are sinners, rich children have the guts to make someone else suffer for their own pleasure because they believe that they buy their way out the trouble that they caused without facing the consequences. Through the media, it seems that rich people are not held responsible for their actions. The only form of punishment that they have is fines, community service, or a light jail sentence. For rich people Britney Spears, there is very little responsibility that she has to be accountable for (Dear Rich People). If it was anyone else, they would have been in jail, and not free to do whatever. From there, it is apparent that the richer a person is, they will commit some kind of crime, which makes them sinners.