Despite the near collapse of the economy this year, the main Wall Street players in that drama have continued to pay themselves huge bonuses as if nothing had happened. The difference this time, arguably, is that if millions of taxpayers (some of whom are now unemployed) had not come to Wall Street's rescue in 2008 and 2009, there wouldn't be any bonuses to speak of. Can this hubris be explained?

One explanation is that the corporations involved are doing what they were designed to do–make money. If the fiduciary duty of the boards and their managers is to make money, they will make it in the most efficient way possible. That is why the big banks prefer to make massive profits from trading, some of it highly risky, rather than by lending to needy businesses that would then be able to hire back laid-off employees or even create new jobs. They call it maximizing shareholder value. The problem is that if this keeps up, the system will reach the brink of another collapse.

In theory, there is a better way. Corporations were created by states to serve the public interest, usually to build a road or dig a canal, in exchange for which they were granted the permission to organize and given limited liability. The duty to serve the broader society is still on the books, but it has atrophied. Since the rise of gigantic business enterprises there has been commentary on the amorality of corporations focusing on shareholder value to the exclusion of everything else. The businessmen say, “Fine, but who is going to define the public interest for us? Who is going to tell us when a profit becomes an excess profit? You can't legislate compassion.”