Perhaps what bothers me most about much of the current economic difficulties is that a great many people seem to have pursued financial activities that they should have known were - um - quite risky, because they were able to pull out their profits and shift the risks to others. So you have a great many insiders who profited tremendously from actions that essentially ran aspects of the economy into the ground.
Am I entirely off the mark here? Are there large numbers of financial wizards who are losing their shirts over recent developments? Or is it more along the lines that they are just going to have to figure out how to live without the tens of millions of dollars of bonuses and compensation they have enjoyed in previous years - at least until they discover a new way to run an end-around the rest of us?
In the event of corporate failure, what ought to be the extent of personal liability on behalf of those who profited from corporate actions? I realize putting the various directors in the poorhouse would be a drop in the bucket compared to the costs they have imposed on the rest of society, but I, for one, would sure get some small amount of pleasure out of seeing some fatcats wearing barrels…
Or at least a good old fashioned societal shunning. But instead, it seems that the reward for running one company/institution into the ground is to be hired by another…