few crimes or punishments

Aristotle said tragedy should provide catharsis. The shock of the play was supposed to purify the audience. By that standard, the current financial crisis is more like a lesson in botany than Greek drama. This pattern, at least in the US, was well established by the Great Depression. Its feature included heartfelt statements of remorse, high-profile trials exposing ridiculously extravagant lifestyles and painfully long prison sentences for the accused. It certainly worked that way in the corpor...