MORAL SLOPPINESS

The Silent Killer of Trust in Business and Government

By Bob Gallagher

Charlie Munger once warned about the dangers of incentive-caused bias—how systems built without accountability inevitably invite corruption. But what we’re witnessing today goes beyond bias. We are living through an epidemic of moral sloppiness.

From government offices to city streets and corporate boardrooms, ethical decay is no longer the exception—it’s the system. Political deception, unchecked lawlessness, and corporate fraud are no longer isolated events—they’re structural norms.

People walk out of stores with carts full of stolen goods, daring anyone to intervene. Police, constrained by policy or politics, often can’t—or won’t—respond. The institutions meant to uphold law and order, from regulators to the courts, are either buried in bureaucracy or choosing to look the other way.

This isn’t just neglect. It’s complicity.

Political Deception: When Lying Becomes Policy

In today’s United States, political deception has become a pervasive issue, eroding public trust in government institutions. Officials often make statements under oath that are later proven false, yet consequences remain rare. For instance, recent investigations have uncovered systemic misrepresentations by government agencies, undermining accountability.

Government waste continues unabated. The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) reported over $191 billion in improper payments related to federal COVID-19 relief programs, highlighting significant mismanagement of taxpayer funds. Such fiscal irresponsibility further diminishes public confidence in governmental operations.AP News

Empty promises of accountability persist. Despite numerous political scandals, meaningful consequences for those involved are often lacking. The revolving door between corporate lobbyists and government regulators remains a concern, as it perpetuates a cycle of influence and undermines genuine oversight.Politico

Meanwhile, pressing issues go unaddressed. Political leaders frequently divert attention to divisive social topics while neglecting critical matters such as economic stagnation, housing crises, and national security threats. Budgetary brinkmanship is employed to manufacture fiscal crises, avoiding the development of long-term solutions.

Whistleblowers who expose corruption face retaliation, while those who deceive the public are often rewarded. This dynamic fosters a culture where truth is suppressed, and misconduct is tolerated, further eroding trust in public institutions.

The cumulative effect is a citizenry that grows increasingly skeptical of its leaders—a political class seemingly indifferent to the erosion of integrity within the system.

Lawlessness: The Breakdown of Accountability

This isn’t just a problem in politics. It’s on the streets. It’s in the courts. It’s in everyday systems where rules no longer seem to apply—and consequences rarely follow.

People walk out of stores with stolen goods in broad daylight, daring security to stop them. Police, bound by policy or politics, often don’t—or can’t—intervene. The message is clear: impunity is now embedded in the culture.

Workers’ compensation fraud is crushing small businesses. In the U.S., the National Insurance Crime Bureau estimates that fraudulent claims cost the system over $7.2 billion annually. In Canada, losses from false injury claims run into the millions. The result? Skyrocketing premiums, shuttered shops, and honest employers who can’t compete.
Law enforcement is paralyzed by policy. In many major U.S. cities, so-called soft-on-crime reforms have created a revolving-door justice system. Repeat offenders are released with little or no consequence, eroding public safety. In Canada, police departments are openly frustrated by bail reforms that prevent them from holding even violent offenders.
Regulators are asleep at the wheel. Financial watchdogs tasked with oversight lack either the resources—or the will—to do their jobs. Canada’s weak enforcement of anti-money laundering laws has turned Vancouver into a global hub for illicit finance, known internationally as the Vancouver Model. In the U.S., institutions like the SEC have repeatedly failed to prevent large-scale fraud—from the 2008 crisis to the collapse of FTX in 2022.

When the rules don’t matter, trust dies. And when trust dies, society follows..

The Corporate Rot: When Profits Trump Ethics

In boardrooms across North America, lying has been rebranded as strategy. Corporate executives deceive shareholders, manipulate earnings, exploit customers—and do it all with legal cover.

These aren’t isolated scandals. They’re symptoms of a system that rewards short-term profit over long-term trust.

Banking scandals continue to erode public confidence. Wells Fargo created millions of fake accounts to inflate its numbers. The LIBOR scandal saw global banks manipulating interest rates that impacted loans, mortgages, and everyday consumers.
Telecom giants routinely mislead customers, hiding fees and throttling data on so-called “unlimited” plans. When caught, they issue boilerplate apologies—then do it again.
Franchise exploitation is now baked into business models. Large chains lure small operators in with glossy projections, only to trap them with excessive fees, markup requirements, and restrictive contracts that make success nearly impossible.

Many corporate contracts aren’t designed to build partnerships. They’re engineered to trap small businesses—offering the illusion of opportunity while protecting the interests of the powerful. Hidden clauses, termination penalties, legal booby traps—it’s all intentional.

Ethics are no longer an afterthought. They’re a liability. And the system prefers it that way.

What About the Employees? Are They Just Blind Followers?

It’s easy to blame the system. But systems are built, maintained, and enforced by people—real people who sign the papers, process the lies, and carry out the schemes.

At some point, fear stops being a reason and becomes an excuse. Who’s pushing unethical contracts? Who’s ignoring the red flags? The office cat? No—it’s managers, analysts, and everyday employees who choose silence over resistance.

At Wells Fargo, it wasn’t just senior executives who created fake accounts. Thousands of employees went along with it. They could’ve said “no.” They didn’t.
In telecom call centers, it’s the reps who sell “deals” that aren’t real, upsell customers into confusion, and dodge basic accountability—all because “that’s how it works.”
In corporate fraud cases, accountants, middle managers, and sales teams see the wrongdoing. They know it’s wrong. But they follow orders and keep their heads down.

Yes, the pressure is real. But integrity only matters when it’s inconvenient.

So where’s the line?
How many lies do you tell before it becomes who you are?

Not Everyone is a Victim—Some People Like It This Way

The most dangerous people in any corrupt system aren’t the ones who feel trapped. They’re the ones who know exactly what they’re doing—and do it anyway.

They justify cutting corners, rigging numbers, and misleading the public because “that’s just how the world works.” At Volkswagen, engineers and executives spent years rigging diesel vehicles to cheat emissions tests, then spun the fraud as a technical issue when caught. This wasn’t a mistake—it was an engineered lie.
They don’t just participate—they profit. Elizabeth Holmes didn’t just get carried away by ambition. She sold a vision she knew was false, deceived the public, defrauded investors, and was lionized by the media until the entire house collapsed.
At Wells Fargo, it wasn’t just rogue managers. It was a culture that rewarded deceit. Executives set impossible quotas. Managers pushed employees to commit fraud. Those who objected were silenced or fired.
And when someone speaks up? They’re punished. Susan Fowler was retaliated against after exposing Uber’s toxic culture. At Boeing, whistleblowers who raised safety concerns about the 737 MAX were sidelined—while executives pushed for faster production and higher profits.

These aren’t victims of a broken system. They are the system.

Let’s be clear: No one forced them to sell out.
They knew the vision was a lie—and they sold it anyway.

Enough Excuses—Where’s the Fight?

At what point do employees say enough is enough?
Where’s the refusal to comply? The refusal to push fraudulent contracts? The refusal to upsell scams?

Where are the employees standing up in meetings and saying:
🚨 “We’re not doing this.”
🚨 “We’re not screwing customers to hit a quarterly target.”
🚨 “We’re not going to be part of this fraud.”

Where is that?

Because if employees won’t take a stand—if they stay silent while corruption thrives—why should we feel sorry for them?

Customers: From Valued Partners to Inconvenient Obstacles

There was a time when businesses respected customers—because they understood that a loyal customer was the foundation of sustainable success. That era is gone.

Now, customers are treated like garbage. A nuisance. A number. An obstacle to higher margins.

Comcast trained retention reps to block cancellations at all costs. Customers trying to leave were worn down, deceived, and ignored.
Wells Fargo secretly opened millions of unauthorized accounts in customers’ names. Credit scores were destroyed. Lives were upended.
In Canada, RBC automatically locked customers into higher mortgage rates—without disclosure.
United Airlines dragged a paying passenger off a flight. Air Canada fought lawsuits over denying rightful refunds. The list goes on.

Across industries, the pattern is clear: customers are no longer valued—they’re exploited.

And loyalty? It’s punished:

Bell and Rogers charged long-time customers higher rates than new subscribers.
AT&T, TD Bank, Scotiabank—same playbook. Higher fees. Worse deals. Silent extra charges.
Bank of America and Chase were fined for illegally denying valid credit card disputes.
Amazon banned customers for returning “too many” items—without warning or explanation.

Ever try to return something or dispute a charge? You’re treated like you’re the scammer.

This isn’t just bad customer service. It’s a business model built on exploitation, dressed up as efficiency.

It’s Time for a Reckoning

Enough with the moral sloppiness. Enough with the excuses.

Real change doesn’t come from hashtags or outrage. It comes when people refuse to let corruption go unanswered.

Employees must speak up—and refuse to be tools of deception. If your workplace punishes honesty, document everything. Blow the whistle.
Customers must stop tolerating abuse. Call out deception. Walk away. Share the truth.
Investors and regulators must stop rewarding short-term greed and start enforcing real accountability.

🚨 The cracks in these corrupt systems are already showing.
🚨 People are waking up. Momentum is building.

The question is:
When the moment comes to take a stand… will you be ready?

What Happens Next Is Up to You

This isn’t just a story about political fraud, corporate greed, or bureaucratic decay.
It’s about how long we’re willing to tolerate it.

If you’ve read this far, you already know: something has to change.
That’s why MTWX exists.

We’re building a movement to expose corruption, challenge moral sloppiness, and give people a way to fight back—with facts, with action, and with each other.

📌 Want to help? Start here:
👉 Become a Member of MTWX – because silence isn’t safety. It’s surrender.

📩 Got a story of your own? Email: bob.gallagher@mtwx.ca

💡 Change doesn’t start with outrage. It starts with action.
And sometimes, it starts with just one person saying: “No more.”