The financial mess sort of reminds me of the space shuttle disasters. I remember thinking after the Columbia tore apart that space travel would be finished. Ho

The financial mess sort of reminds me of the space shuttle disasters. I remember thinking after the Columbia tore apart that space travel would be finished. How could we possibly risk more people in space after such a horrendous event? And that happened twice. There were lots of smart people working on those projects, doing lots of complicated work that few could understand. Did it affect millions of people? Other than emotionally, no. Were there immoral people working for NASA? Probably. My point is that it took about 3 years after the Challenger disaster, and another 3 years after the Columbia disaster to get things moving again. Many changes were implemented. But rockets still flew. The science didn't get any easier, and neither did the math. Rocket science and materials science are still chalk-full of tough, unpredictable problems, but that doesn't scare people away from being employed in those industries. I-banking needs some sweeping changes. Perhaps the compensation will change as a result. At the end of the day though, financial engineering is still needed, and intelligent ethical leaders will be more in demand than ever.