Paul Krugman points his finger at the ever-more-visible source of the problem. Our economy is extremely fragile and we are all about to pay the price–we’ll not all of us . . .

Now the bill is coming due, and almost everyone – that is, almost everyone except the people responsible – is having to pay.

[The] people who should have been alert to the dangers, and taken precautionary measures, instead blithely assured Americans that everything was fine, and even encouraged them to take out risky mortgages. Yes, Alan Greenspan, that means you.

But another part of the answer lies in what hasn’t happened to the men on that Fortune cover — namely, they haven’t been forced to give back any of the huge paychecks they received before the folly of their decisions became apparent.

Around 25 years ago, American business — and the American political system — bought into the idea that greed is good. Executives are lavishly rewarded if the companies they run seem successful: last year the chief executives of Merrill and Citigroup were paid $48 million and $25.6 million, respectively.