Those of us old enough to remember the financial meltdown of 2008 might also recall the final, disgraceful chapter of it. It wasn’t just that 9 million people lost their jobs; it was that the financial institutions that had traded all those securities based on subprime mortgages—and then been bailed out by the federal government—proceeded to dole out $20 billion in bonuses to their senior executives.

“That is the height of irresponsibility,” President Obama said early in 2009 in a rare moment of public choler. “It is shameful.” READ MORE