It’s difficult to pick up a newspaper or visit a business news Web site without encountering yet more information about the sub-prime mortgage mess—and “mess” is probably too kind a word. With the extraordinary losses and personal pain, terms like “debacle,” “fiasco,” or “disaster” are more accurate. With each new report we learn a bit more about what went wrong and the extent of the consequent suffering.
Before getting to what boards of directors should or shouldn’t have been doing during all this, let’s step back and look at what transpired.
What Was to be Gained
How did we get here? ...