Italy - The Paragon of Business Ethics?

Plucked from the "pages" of www.nytimes.com today:

"On Saturday, Gordon Brown, the British prime minister, said the crisis 'has come from America,' and Mr. Berlusconi bemoaned the lack of business ethics that had been exposed by the crisis."

Oh! If only business ethics here in the USA could one day rival those widely embraced by the Italian business community.