On Sunday, Kevin Hall of the McClatchy newspaper chain pointed to the calamitous effects of last fall's Wall Street crash and wondered why no major financial player had yet landed in the slammer, as was common in past Wall Street crises.

More than a year into the gravest financial crisis since the Great Depression, millions of Americans have seen their home values and retirement savings plunge and their jobs evaporate.

What they haven't seen are any Wall Street tycoons forced to swap their multi-million dollar jobs and custom-made suits for dishwashing and prison stripes...The absence of what many would call justice stands out all the more because past financial crises always had their villains

Hall admits that it's not as if no one is being scrutinized. The FBI has nearly 600 corporate fraud investigations underway, which take time to resolve due to the inherent financial complexities. He also grants that the newly appointed Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission might use its subpoena powers to uncover more dirt. But with the major financial regulatory outfits (SEC, CFTC) unable to bring criminal charges, Hall's doesn't expect things to change anytime soon.

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