I am generally opposed to the death penalty, but I'm willing to make an exception for the financial "wizards" who architected the schemes that thrust us into our dire, worldwide financial predicament.
Who are these people, you ask. It is the very financial institutions that we are now being asked to bail out with taxpayer money. If you have lost wealth in the markets or your 401k, it is because of them. The chaos that we're now all being forced to fight through is the creation of a very small number of very greedy people. Truly, the scum of the Earth...
Subprime Securities Market Began as `Group of 5' Over Chinese
This report should be required reading for anybody trying to understand the root causes of our current financial hell. The article was written back in December of 2007, but it's even more poignant now than it was then.