The Toll at the Top

GM's Rick Wagoner and Peugeot's Christian Streiff are the latest casualties. Both auto executives were sacked in late March—Wagoner under pressure from President Barack Obama to leave before the government gave GM (GM) any more bailout money and Streiff apparently because he insisted on cutting jobs. But while firing a CEO can look like decisive action to appease shareholders, it's often not enough to turn a struggling company around—as the fates of financial firms such as Bear Stearns, Wachovia, and AIG show. Click on for a look at a dozen execs who have been ousted since the financial crisis began.