A couple of weeks ago, the government started signaling, at long last, that it was ready to get tough on the bankers who caused the 2008 financial crisis. On March 16 the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, or FDIC, sued three fromer top executives of Washington Mutual, or WaMu, for taking "extreme and historically unprecedented risks," therby causing the bank to lose "billions of dollars." That same day, the New York Times reported that the Securities and Exchange Commission had sent so-called Wells notices--often a sign that civil charges are imminent--to a handful of former executives at mortgage-securitization giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.