But in fact, the FBI’s raw data suggests the opposite: Year by year, we're becoming more civilized, more law-abiding, and less violent. Crime rates -- criminal acts per capita -- have been dropping steadily for 20 years in all major categories. Comparing our current crime rates with those in 1988, rape is down 19%, robbery 34%, murder 35%, and violent crime in general a whopping 28%.

Hard data trumps emotion. The free-market system may be crumbling, but it’s not because Americans don’t know right from wrong.

Despite this, I think the reader is onto something. About 50% of American households have investments in the stock market. Although many of these people are church-goers and champions of the underdog, they're participating in a financial system that ascribes no value to the concept of goodness.

The stock market is amoral. It's designed to be amoral. There's never any discussion of right or wrong. CEOs of publicly traded companies do whatever they can to increase the value of their stock. It’s a pretty simple game. Traders love it when you call them “cold-hearted."

Last year, I was reviewing a South American gold project with a promoter I admire as a person, a father, and a businessman. As we pawed over photographs of the open pit, he said, “The miners are getting paid about a buck a day." I nodded, and then he added, “Of course the investors love that." His words hung in the air for a moment. And then we both shrugged and moved on. What else was there to say? It’s the stock market - that’s how it works.

And yet, if I could randomly pluck one of the stockholders of this gold-mining company, fly him to South America, introduce him to a miner, have him watch the guy work, meet his wife, his children, eat dinner with his family, see how they live, what they lack - I’d bet confidently that, at the end of the day, this stock holder would take out his wallet and try to even things out. That’s just human nature.

But out of sight, out of mind. Study the chart. Call your broker. Roll the dice. And believe me, I’m not preaching - I own stocks. I enjoy the game. But I think it’s important that we don’t tell ourselves lies about the flaws -- moral or otherwise -- embedded in the system we participate in.

Amorality (the absence of morals) is a stone’s throw from immorality (wrongdoing). 2008 has been a brutal year for most investors.

And yes, it’s cold. In my community, the shelters have been flooded with donated blankets. This afternoon, my neighbour ushered a ranting woman in off the street, bathed her feet in warm water, and cooked her some stew. I am wary of any system -- financial or political -- where this kind of impulse is considered a weakness that deserves to be punished.