Critics point to a pervasive sense of victimhood in the underclass. But listen to what Bear Stearns CEO Alan Schwartz told the troops after his firm succumbed to wounds that were almost entirely self-inflicted. "We here are a collective victim of violence," he said. Yep, just another case of the Man keeping the Man down.

This paragraph left me imagining the responsible, consequence-accepting businessmen of mythical yore, and their stiff-upper-lip exemplar sprang unbidden to mind.

Captain Needa: I shall take full responsibility for losing them, and apologize to Lord Vader personally.

But then I remembered the outcome of that decision.

Darth Vader: Apology accepted, Captain Needa.

Disclaimer: This is a comment on perverse incentives, not an endorsement of Bear Stearns-style weaseling.