No One Ever Resigns

The cult of zero accountability at the top - entrenched in the Bush years, exemplified by the smooth job security of the major bankers after they helped destroy millions of jobs, ratified by Obama's "no one will be held accountable but me and my job is secure" response to the undie-bomber intelligence failure - continues in media. Michael Wolff makes the obvious point about the NYT's apparent decision to charge for online content it has spent the last decade giving away for free:

If the Times' shareholders and other people of goodwill feel it is important to save the Times, how come there isn’t some greater call to do the logical thing? Rather than taking the radical step, the no-going-back step, you take the reasoned and methodical one. You fire the jokers who brought the business to the point of having to bet the farm. You start afresh with people who might have better ideas than the ones offered by the people currently running the place, which have failed. Arthur has got to gosomething almost everybody knows.

And why, pray, does Jeff Zucker still have a job? One reason for resurgent populism is a justified anger at the elites protecting themselves - at the expense of voters, customers, and excellence.