I must be in the wrong line of work

In journalism (as with most professions) if you screw up — I mean royally, totally, screw up — you get fired. Or, at the very least, you get reminded that you need to do better. You certainly don't get a pay raise.

But not those corporate executives.

In 2007, the top five Wall Street investment houses awarded their management bonuses totaling $39 billion.

For comparison, those companies' stockholders in total earned $11 billion that year. And three of those companies (Merril Lynch, Morgan Stanley and Bear Stearns) lost $11.23 billion.

I'd say I need to get into that line of work, but I really don't want to be guilty of that kind of robbery.