Through the looking glass

The American public has pulled an Alice and stepped through the looking glass into an upside-down world of morality and justice. Unaware, and insidiously we have accepted, and rewarded, criminal behavior if it is of grand scale, while continuing draconian punishment of criminals if their offense is of minor scope, affecting only a few.

Examples: AIG , Merrill, Goldman Sachs, Countrywide Bank, etc. The financial whiz kids at those firms devised financial instruments based on inflated valuations, false appraisals, and in complete avoidance of sound risk management principles. These were marketed to investors, banks, pension funds, foundations, etc,
without recourse. The purchasers were induced by AIG, which sold them Credit Default
Swaps. Those guaranteed face value reimbursement if the investment lost value, usually as a result of default by the borrowers.

For reasons already known, the investments lost most of their value, damaging the capital structures of the banks which had purchased huge amounts, exposing AIG to claims far beyond their capacity to pay. Failure to pay the claims could result in bankruptcies and collapse of the entire banking and credit structure of the nation.

The whiz kids who designed and marketed those toxic assets and credit default swaps should be punished for the fraud they committed and the enormous losses they caused. RIGHT? Almost half the world's paper wealth has disappeared. Instead they have received enormous bonuses as an inducement to stick around and unravel the chaos they caused and identify the co-conspirators (so they can receive bonuses?)
and victims, before they take off for a luxurious European vacation. But a poor, laid off worker, who in desperation snatches a purse or sells a joint, faces 10 or more years in prison.

The moral is "if you are a big enough scoundrel and thief you will be rewarded beyond your dreams. Just don't be small scale in your plundering."