ABSTRACT
Two articles of interest appeared on the front page of the New York Times of July 31, 2009. One is about eighty or so out-of-work and out-of-means men and women who live under a bridge in Providence, Rhode Island. The other is about 4,793 traders and bankers from nine financial firms who received bonuses of more than $1 million each in 2008, of whom 311 made over $5 million and 47 made over $10 million. I am writing this note on August 1. By the time you read it in the September-October issue of Challenge, the situation might be different. The eighty or so people living under the bridge might be back at work. The 4,793 financiers might be restricted to bonuses in line with generally accepted standards of morality. In a recession of their own making, this means none.
