In the merchant republic of Venice, where modern banking was essentially born during the Renaissance, if the leading moneylenders had ended up ruining the economy of the republic, they’d have been put to death, either via a public execution at the hands of the state or a private one at the hands of a band of Condottieri.
Today they get away clean, the richest men in the world, beholden to no one, too big to fail. A sure sign that we live in far more enlightened times.
