In Helaman 6:17 we find the following:
For behold, the Lord had blessed them so long with the riches of the world that they had not been stirred up to anger, to wars, nor to bloodshed; therefore they began to set their hearts upon their riches; yea, they began to seek to get gain that they might be lifted up one above another; therefore they began to commit secret murders, and to rob and to plunder, that they might get gain.
Hugh Nibley notes that they were getting rich so they didn't need wars anymore. They were rather happy about it. With riches of the world they hadn't been stirred up to bloodshed nationally, so they got rich and were stirred up to private bloodshed. Their wars are lowered to a private level now. . . . President Lee says, "ethical conduct is essential to a person's financial success. Over the long run ethical conduct pays off." But if you are in insurance or in real estate or in the law, it's the short-run that pays off. Remember, as against the Japanese, the American stock market is aimed entirely at short gain--quick short gain. That's the way these big fortunes are being made. Anyway, he says that in the long run ethical conduct pays off in dollars and cents. But, if being honest meant financial ruin, would you still be honest then? Of course you would have to be. It has very often happened that a person has suffered financial ruin because he wouldn't collect on a certain thing, or wouldn't crack down. On the other hand, there are situations in which being honest will make less money than in the long run. That's a strange thing. Remember, Plato says the honest man is a man who will do right even with the "ring of Gyges." Gyges was one of the tyrants, and he had a ring that made you invisible. Now, if you had the ring of Gyges, you could do anything you wanted to because you would be invisible. That shouldn't change your behavior at all. You should do the right thing because it is the right thing--not because it will make you money, bring you financial success, or in the long run dollars and cents. [Hugh W. Nibley, Teachings of the Book of Mormon, Semester 3, pp. 239-240]