The faces of the financial crisis

The U.S. financial system faces a grave crisis as investment giants teeter on the edge of collapse. These institutions aren’t merely made of paper and percentages, though. They’re led by people — people who’ve made some rotten decisions in recent years.

Since we’ll hear much in the coming weeks about the federal regulators who are scrambling to avert a disaster, we should also hear about the CEOs who got very rich while their firms crumbled.