Because They Have No Other Place to Go

The New York Times looks at increasing calls for nationalizing the banks, and wonders how you could find qualified people to run the banks, since pay would obviously be less:

Some of Mr. Obama’s advisers have asked who the government would get to run the banks. Many of the most experienced executives are tainted by the decisions they made during the age of excess. And how would the government attract the best talent if it demanded that they take minimal pay — a political reality in the current environment?

There are two answers to to this:

• Unless they want to go to Dubai, no one is hiring.
• The people with a track record on this have all failed miserably. The last thing that you want is Wall Street experience.

Seriously, I've yet to see a good argument against replacing senior management at the banks with first year liberal arts majors.