In the USA at least, I blame the lack of morals on capitalism. What we have in America is not a true form of capitalism anymore, the biggest companies set the standards and the playing field for the rest of the country. Is it moral to sieze a persons home because they missed one payment on it? I read a story today about a soldier currently stationed in Iraq that had his home foreclosed on over $800. The money factor brings all senses of human compassion out of the element and places all morals on profit. If you're making profit, you are rewarded. If you are keeping your morals and objecting with the companies obscene policies, you are fired.

I encounted this in my last line of work. I was managing apartments in NYC. There was a sweet old lady that lived on the top floor of one of the buildings I was managing. She had been there for many years and was rent controlled, paying $130 a month while most others in identical apartments were paying around $1100. I was instructed by my boss to "Find any way to evict her from the apartment." She had done nothing wrong, broken no laws, but since her rent was so low he wanted me to find a way to get her out. Boldly, and stupidly, I refused. I plead my case to him, trying to bring out any sort of human element that was still within him, but it was gone. He was a hollow man with nothing but dollar signs in his eyes. He found another employee willing to do the job I refused. Within 2 months, the old lady was evicted on a loophole that they wouldn't even explain to me. "Don't worry about it" I was told. I never found out why she was evicted.

This is the connection I see between declining morals and capitalism, and this is on a very small scale. If there is someone who has moral objections to the task you require, find someone else for the task. That is my own experience at least, but you need not look further than the media for further examples. Our society is pushing dolls called "Bratz" on our young girls. These things look like hookers that you would see on 42nd street 10 years ago. Huge slutty boots, faces caked with makeup, short skirts and belly shirts. And this is what our children are emulating, and all in the name of the almighty dollar. Not to mention these "musicians" these days that speak of nothing but sex. Sure, there were songs alluding to sex in the past, but these days the straight up say these vulgar messages that are going straight into the childrens heads.

Another easy example is the banks. These banks have absolutely NO compassion for any human being. If you are not playing 100% by their rules, they will ruin you. They will straight up take your home and not bat an eye! Business as usual, no compassion, no care for your fellow human, only the drive for profit.

When I was young, I remember the mom & pop stores. I remember the pizzaria owned by a family of Italian immigrants I used to go to every friday for dinner with my family. Thankfully I still have a good pizza place to go to, but nearly all of them have been wiped out by Domino's, Pizza Hut, and Poppa Johns. (off topic but they all taste terrible, I sincerely recommend coming to NY and having a slice of some authentic pizza).

We're a society driven not by compassion, not by caring or consideration for your fellow man, but by profit. Profit will lead people to drop their morals in a heartbeat. We went from a wonderful country where honest hardworking people could carve out a living for themselves, to a country where those same people are FORCED to do (what I consider) morally wrong things. I kept my morals in my situation, but I lost my job. Do I regret it? Not a bit. While I was working there I recieved comments from the tennants telling me I was the best manager they had ever had, the most involved and understanding. Those few compliments to me made losing the job almost a good thing. It proved to myself that I stuck to the values that I came into the job with, and no amount of money can give you the self respect and reassurance of self that a good deed can.

I fear I veered off topic a bit, I guess the ultimate point of my post is in todays society a lot of people can have their morals bought out. Once the morals of adults are sacrificed, it's only a matter of time before it trickles down to the youth, as the youth always seeks to emulate and improve upon the past generations. I fear this nation will turn into nothing but a giant accounting firm in a few generations, tossing human compassion to the backseat for the almighty dollar. I sincerely hope I'm wrong.