But where the heck do we draw the line? When my ex-wife was working double shifts as a desk clerk at the Disneyland Hotel nearly 2 decades ago because the cash-crunched Disney Company (DIS) was in a hiring freeze, the Los Angeles Times reported that Michael Eisner cashed in $195 million in Disney stock options. Thanks for shamelessly helping take pressure off of the little people, Mike.

In Japan and certain other cultures, shame means something. It guides human conduct. There are places in this world where the shamefully greedy acts of obscenely wealthy people would cause them to resign -- even take their own lives -- as atonement for the shame they brought upon their families, their ancestors, and their faith.

If such reckless disregard for the well-being of hard-working people who follow the rules isn’t enough to make you sick to your stomach, get a load of Washington, DC’s “ethics” this week. It makes me want to hurl.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Tuesday, “I see no reason why Mr. Rangel should step down.” I couldn’t agree more: The Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee shouldn’t lose his chairmanship for years of cheating on his income taxes. He should go to jail.

What, if anything, can keep us in even a remotely ethical shipping channel? Greed is so extraordinarily powerful. And we’re all subject to its siren’s song. I’m afraid I have more questions than answers.

I wonder though if Eliot Spitzer, Charlie Rangel, Nancy Pelosi, James Cayne, Hank Greenberg, Dick Fuld, or Dick Nixon ever lost one minute of sleep over what they were doing.

How did Jeffrey Skilling feel after he verbally attacked Wall Street analyst Richard Grubman for questioning Enron's unusual accounting practices during a recorded conference call? After Grubman complained that Enron was the only company that couldn’t release a balance sheet along with its earnings statements -- to which Skilling replied "Well, thank you very much, we appreciate that . . . asshole" -- did Jeff snarf down a big, expensive dinner and sleep like a baby?

Red, right, returning. We need to find some navigational beacons somewhere - some channel markers we can all try to follow. Maybe shame on the left and guilt on the right is a place to start.