I've always thought that public service should be that, ie voluntary and not paid.
Let's face it, a lot of the blame lays on folks. They took out loans they couldn't afford on houses they couldn't afford. And I really think a lot of those property flipper want-to-be's are a big part of this problem, too. Heck, look at all the stupid TV shows that were developed focusing on it during the real estate boom. I have no facts on that, just a gut feeling.
The CEOs of these failed businesses should be held accountable: investigated, exposed, charged, tried and convicted (if warranted, which I expect would be the case in the majority of them). To think that you run a company into the ground, loose countless amounts of hard working people's hard earned savings and they walk away with millions from it. Well, words can't describe how it makes me feel, at least not ones that I will allow myself to say.