A recent report highlighted by the Telegraph on May 16 sheds light on why the big banks—and America in general—are in such economic trouble.

According to researchers, parents should not be alarmed when their children tell lies. In fact, the better the liar, the more cognitively advanced your child will supposedly become. Thus the report’s authors conclude: Children who begin lying at a young age will become better at hiding their mistakes and be more successful later in life.

It is hard to know where to start when dealing with such rubbish.

“Parents should not be alarmed if their child tells a fib,” said Dr. Kang Lee, director of the Institute of Child Study at Toronto University, who carried out the research. “Almost all children lie. Those who have better cognitive development lie better because they can cover up their tracks.”

Lee claims that lying involves multiple brain processes and is linked to the development of brain regions that allow “executive functioning.”

You have to wonder if that is the same kind of “executive functioning” that got all the big banks and subprime homeowners into trouble and that threatened to implode the whole economy.

Dr. Lee and his team tested 1,200 children ages 2 to 16 years old. Their findings are astounding.

When given a test with an answer sheet on the back and told not to cheat, almost 100 percent of the 12-year-olds cheated and then lied about it. Seventy percent of 16-year-olds cheated and lied. In fact, the vast majority of all-aged students cheated and then lied.

How embarrassing.

If this survey is at all representative of the country as a whole, it is no wonder American society is deteriorating so rapidly. Apparently, America is becoming a nation of cheats and liars.

Sometimes the truth isn’t easy to swallow, but if you want to know the real underlying cause of the global economic crisis, it all boils down to broken law—as in God’s law. As the Trumpethas reported, America’s economic breakdown is the direct result of moral breakdown. It is simply cause and effect. The more people lying, cheating and stealing, the worse off the economy is going to be.

Contrary to the report’s findings, dishonesty and lying do not lead to success. There is an immutable link between depth of character and personal and national achievement. This is a principle that America’s Founding Fathers understood. It is a principle many of America’s earliest colleges understood, but that few understand today.

Yet, character development is still a primary objective of one college today. It is time that parents and individuals take a stand.

Check out Herbert W. Armstrong College’s web page today. And take heart—there is still hope. Read Mystery of the Ages to see why America truly has an inspiring future.