The notion that “behind every great fortune lies a great crime” is an alien one to Americans, who hew more towards Horatio Alger than Honoré de Balzac. But an accepted corollary is that every great loss of fortune must be the result of a crime. There is nothing like a good “perp walk” to soothe a public reeling from opening its latest brokerage statements. The 1987 crash had Boesky and Milken, the dotcom bust had Ebbers and Quattrone, and Enron had Lay and Skilling.

The biggest bust of them all has so far landed no convictions of major Wall Street figures, though, in spite of a broad consensus in Washington and Main Street that the industry preyed on an unsuspecting public. The greatest hope went up in flames as two former Bear Stearns hedge fund managers were acquitted of all charges on Tuesday.