Its been almost three years since the first telecom scandal broke. Given the length of time, most Americans don’t care about corporate criminals anymore. (Tell that to Martha!)

bq. “We’ve been bought off,” said Carl Tannenbaum, chief economist with Standard Federal Bank in Chicago. “Investors say ‘Just give me my 20 percent returns. I don’t want to know how you got them.’ But my feeling is that ethics are not something that should fluctuate with the stock market. They are something that should be constant throughout time.” Investors like Roger Hurst of the Detroit suburb of Madison Heights agree. “I’m getting bored with them,” said Hurst, a sales representative who invests in stocks. “I could care less about Martha Stewart or that Tyco guy.”

This general apathy is the reason why every decade America has to face a wave of corporate crime, and the white collar criminals know that they are going to get away with it. Such a shame!