Lord Acton's observation about the way power corrupts has been so apt during the meltdown.
Consider the case for example of those hypocritical US bankers.
The banks have continually rejected any suggestion they should face regulation. They have rebuffed any move towards anti-trust measures, or proposals to reinstate something like the Glass-Steagall Act which was there to protect the public. And yet when they were in trouble, they were screaming for state intervention. They wanted to be bailed out. They were too big and too important to be allowed to fail.
Or for example the way CEOs of the Big Three auto companies flew private jets to Washington to request taxpayer bailout money.
Another appalling example is the way banks gave their executives big bonuses after receiving bailout money.
Which makes this study from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, reported here, so interesting.
The study found that power makes people stricter in how they judge others, but less strict of their own behavior.
To do the study, researchers assigned roles of high-power and low-power positions to the study participants. Some were told they were prime minister, others were told they were government bureaucrats The participants were then presented with moral dilemmas, like for example, breaking traffic rules, declaring taxes, and returning a stolen bike.
They found that the higher you go, the more hypocritical you get. High power people were more inclined for example to condemn their subordinates for travel expenses but would think nothing of cheating at a dice game, or winning more in a lottery.
The study just confirms that the appalling atrocities we have seen over the last two years are just, sadly enough, part of the human condition. But it does suggest we need stricter rules to control those hypocritical impulses.
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