The Lost Art of Saying I'm Sorry

The masters of the universe who caused this money mess can't master a simple skill: apologizing

Chip Somodevilla / Getty

Edward Liddy, chairman and CEO of the American International Group testifies during a House Financial Services Committee hearing on Capitol Hill March 18, 2009 in Washington, DC.

Even as the rest of Washington debated why the grave robbers of AIG should continue to profit from the carnage they helped cause, Senator Charles Grassley, Republican of Iowa, tended to the mob: He'd feel a little better, he said, if AIG's executives would "follow the Japanese example and come before the American people and take that deep bow and say I'm sorry, and then either do one of two things: resign or go commit suicide." Grassley's spokesman later clarified that he was just "speaking rhetorically" as far as the suicide part went.

I'd settle for a pageant...

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