Why not fired?

Editor,

"Making the taxpayers whole" includes not only restitution, but also protection from being financially ruined by the same actors who caused the collapse of the world economy this time.

In any line of endeavor -- doctoring, teaching, driving a car, being a judge, or any of a hundred positions of responsibility -- if a person does great harm as a result of rank irresponsibility, that person is fired . . . and in egregious cases, as in this CDO debacle, banned from the profession for life.

National City Bank crashed the American economy in the 1920's, and yet its twisted offspring, Citigroup was allowed not only to exist, but to crash the American economy in the 2000's. Why was this organization not dismembered and prohibited from reincarnating ever again?

If a person wants to be a CPA, they have to pass rigorous tests, and their license can be revoked for unethical or incompetent behavior. How does a person become a CEO, a bank executive, a loan officer, or a trader? Why is a person in such a position who harms millions of innocent people by gross incompetence, if not outright criminality, not fired and -- my point -- banned from the banking business for life?

re: "Obama Weighs Bank Fee to Help Cut the Federal Deficit" (1/12/2009)