<p>Is conscience a better motivator that money, fame, or power?</p>
<p>Conscience, the inner notion of guilt and the contemplation of the repercussions of an action, is unfortunately not a more powerful motivator that desire for money. In fact, certain business actions found in society evidence this precept, the fraudulent schemes business managers engage in when they do not heed their consciences and, instead, cheat for money. </p>
<p>In 2009, the worlds largest Ponzi scheme was uncovered, that of Bernie Madoff. A Ponzi scheme is a fraudulent investment scheme in which money received from new investors is immediately distributed to old investors, feigning the image of a successful company that can pay dividends when in reality the firms value is 0 and the money from the new investors is essentially stolen. Madoff engaged in this scheme in order to salvage his ailing investment firm in 2001, despite his conscience insisting that he not engage in the scam. However, Madoffs desire for power overwhelmed his conscience, and he began the Ponzi scheme. Subsequently, his ploy was discovered in 2009 by the Securities Exchange Commision of the Federal Government, and he consequently was incarcerated on Dec, 11, 2009. His scheme not only cost Americas elderly 18 billion dollars, money they were dependent upon for living their last days in peace and relaxation, but also many financial analysts hold him personally responsible for the recession of 2009-2010. His scheme exacerbated the already declining economy by arounding fear and suspicion in the market, causing a drop of stocks worldwide. His effects led Madoff to be sentenced to like in prison. Bernie Madoff thus exemplifies the fact that not only is money a more powerful motivator than conscience, but also those who use money as the motivation are in the end doomed to failure. </p>
<p>In addition to Madoffs arrest, a similar event preceded the Ponzi Scheme of Madoff, the Enron scandal. Enron, an American energy company in Texas, was found in 2001 to have lied about the crippling debt that plagued the company. Business, by law, must provide transparency into the companys accounts and finances, but Enron deliberately omitted the enormous debt in incurred due to ill-advised business practices. When the debt was discovered in 2001, Enrons stock value immediately plunged to 0, as with any fraudulent corporation, and 64 billion dollars of the American savings were lost. In fact, similar to the Madoff firm, much of the 64 billion dollars was comprised of retirement accounts, money unfortunately they could not earn back. The culprits of the scam were Enron executives, who in order to sustain their large salaries, feigned the prosperity of the company, but in the end, as with Madoff, they were indicted and found guilty, and subsequently sent to jail. The Enron downfall demonstrates that motivation by money, in addition to being more powerful than that of conscience, leads to the downfall of its users. </p>
<p>As established by the Enron scandal and Madoff fraud, money is indeed a more powerful motivator than conscience. Furthermore, their actions led to their downfall, showing that using money for motivation is imprudent. If both the executives of Enron and Madoff had engaged in ethical business practices, the economic declines that followed their downfall would not have occurred and their reputations would not have been tarnished. Although in a perfect world, conscience would be the most powerful motivator, such is not the case in ours.</p>