The 2009 economic crisis brought an interesting phrase into the headlines: toxic assets. Toxic assets are one of the factors contributing to the trouble that banks are in now. The assets are loans. Somebody owes the banks money. Normally banks want people to owe them money and pay them interest on the principal. But as the economy now stands, especially with the mortgage foreclosure crisis, many of ...

Percentage of Americans who say they would act immorally—including lying or backstabbing—to keep their jobs: 28

In 2008, 5 million people participated in addiction programs because of alcohol or drug abuse. Participants by age:

• 12–17 years old: 5 percent
  
  
• 18–25: 15 percent
  
  
• 26–49: 57 percent
  
  
• 50 and over: 23 percent
  
  

The Josephson Institute, a Los-Angeles-based ethics institute, conducted a character survey of nearly 30,000 students at 100 randomly selected high schools nationwide. Among the findings:

• Sixty-four percent of students said they had cheated on a test in the past year.
• Thirty percent had stolen from a store.
• Forty-two percent said they would lie to save money.
• Eighty-three percent said they had lied to their parents about something significant.

A 2008 survey by The Barna Group asked adults which, if any, of eight behaviors with moral overtones they had engaged in during the past week. The behaviors included looking at pornography, using profanity, gambling, gossiping, engaging in sexual intercourse with someone to whom they were not married, retaliating against someone, getting drunk, and lying. Of those surveyed:

• Twenty-eight percent had used profanity.
  
  

Flywheel is a film about Jay, a Christian used-car salesman who becomes convicted that he has been grossly overcharging his customers. In this scene, conviction begins to settle in Jay's heart when he manipulates the sale of a car to his pastor.

As the scene opens, Jay is standing in the used car lot when he notices that his pastor is looking at a car. Jay walks over and says, "Well, the good Reverend ...

Among people surveyed in 17 countries, percentage of those who say they have tried marijuana:

United States: 42.4 percent
New Zealand: 41.9 percent
Netherlands: 19.8 percent
France: 19 percent
Germany: 17.5 percent

In 2008, New York Magazine ran a comprehensive article about research concerning kids and lying. In one study researchers gathered a group of children together and read them a version of The Boy Who Cried Wolf where the little boy is eaten by the wolf because he lies. In a survey of adults taken before the study, most thought the negative consequences in The Boy Who Cried Wolf would lead the children ...

As of 2006, the stock market boasts 150 mutual funds that designate themselves as "socially responsible." This means that investments are only made in companies that meet the ethical standards of fund managers.

But back in 2002, a new investment vehicle quietly surfaced: the Vice Fund. The prospectus of the Vice Fund claims that it favors "products or services often considered socially irresponsible." ...

FOX recently premiered "Moment of Truth," a TV show that wrestles with whether or not anyone is ever willing to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Contestants are hooked up to a state-of-the-art lie detector test in order to determine whether or not they are spinning lies while asked a series of questions. If contestants tell the truth, they'll win $500,000. To add a little ...