The 1980s provided every reason to think all business was corrupt. The newspapers were full of insider trading and Wall Street scandals. The most upsetting news was about the gross profits made by people widely described as financial parasites, who sucked off billions of dollars through complex schemes that most people had difficulty understanding. There were junk bond crazes and hostile takeovers by financiers who broke up organizations instead of building them. Much the same picture appeared on television, in local movie theaters, and in popular magazines. Fiction, nonfiction, it was all the same: People in business are not like you. They are fundamentally immoral, and the richest are making no positive contributions to our society.

Recently we have had another burst of business scandals. In the last few years some of the country's largest firms have collapsed as a result of corruption, leaving their shareholders, former employees, and entire communities in deep distress. This time some of the leading firms in the accounting profession have been caught up in the scandal for abandoning their watchdog role and approving the illegal practices of their corporate clients. Once again, men in powerful positions lined their own pockets while presiding over a devastating slide into bankruptcy.

During the nation's previous bout with business scandal in the 1980s, it was especially easy to believe that business was corrupt because millions of lives were changing in dramatic, often devastating ways as a result of changes in corporate America.