Thrown out by AIG, Hank Greenberg sues the folks left to mind the store.

Which leaves some questions that the historians of the financial crash will be pondering for years: Was the fall of American finance a foreseeable consequence of the hubris of empire building? Were Citi, Bear, and AIG companies that were doomed to fail by the mistakes of the men who built them? Or, on the other hand, did their failures come from the managers who were left behind, people left with the keys to the kingdom and free reign to risk other people's money without worrying about what the boss would think?

The subtext of Greenberg's lawsuit comes down to this: It would have been different had he been allowed to stay at the helm. Tarnished as his reputation might be, it's an idea that is at least worth considering. Over the last months, you've heard a lot about the lack of accountability in corporate America-accountability to customers, shareholders, or the public at large. Indeed, all those failures of accountability are written in glowing letters. But it's also worth asking whether the retirement of the patriarchs might indeed have left the simplest accountability gap of all: a boss who understood his business and could look further ahead than next year's bonus.