I hope that as the financial markets and economy swooned, ex-Merrill Lynch CEO John Thain looked nervously at the goods that comprised his $1.2 million office refurbishment. AIG got rapped on the knuckles for its post-bailout retreat, the media lambasted the Big Three for their profligate private jets, and Citigroup had to throw up its metaphorical hands at the delivery of its own, previously ordered private jet.
True, Thain did refurbish his office about a year ago, when ...