<They rushed companies to IPOs and cashed out at the peak of the hysteria, leaving millions of middle-class Americans, and their agents the investment and pension funds, holding the bag when the house of cards collapsed. The wealthy walked away wealthier, and millions were left unemployed, tens of millions saw their retirement plans devastated and their kids' college funds gutted.

I won't argue that this happened in a number of cases. I live in Silicon Valley, remember? There are still a lot of leftover millionaires around here. The ones bright enough to diversify the second they had cash in hand. I won't go into the ignorance of people buying grossly overinflated stocks on advice from brokers,* or especially the stupidity of fund managers who are supposed to know better. There is a certain "who's left with the wet baby" technique that applies to almost all stock transactions. Any time you sell a stock, you are betting it's going to go down (to the detriment of the buyer) while the buyer is betting that it will go up (to your detriment.)

Hey, I had a few tech funds myself, and for the same reason as everyone else. I wanted to make a quick buck with no work. Fortunately, my investments were more diverse, so while I lost value (everybody in stocks did), I didn't take a bath. Had I been bright enough to get into those funds about two years sooner, I would STILL be ahead of the game. I don't consider passively watching a fund go from a low level to an astronomical level, and then drop to a merely higher level as "losing money," although some people might consider it as such.

Under these special circumstances, a re-redistribution of wealth that returned things to the precrime state circa 1994 would be simply a matter of restitution and justice.

An interesting proposition. Lawsuits are taking care of a lot of this even as we speak, and if any actions were actually criminal fraud, they are being prosecuted as such. As far as the government dealing out cash for justice, are you suggesting tax cuts only for angry stockholders?

And does this mean I should also get a tax refund based on the utter failure of many multi-billion dollar Federal programs and the total waste of my money?

*I never listen to brokers. If they really knew when to buy and sell, they wouldn't be brokers for a living.