A handful of recent high-profile and spectacular collapses, one corporate and a few political, suggests some high achievers succumb to arrogance, hubris — and the inability to know when they've gone too far.

The headlines in recent days have been dominated by the financial collapse of legendary investment bank Bear Stearns, the resignation of former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer, and the announcement by Pennsylvania state Sen. Vincent Fumo that he will not seek re-election.

Some observers familiar with the people involved in these stories will view the respective downfalls as just rewards for arrogance, entitlement and egotistical behavior. Others will try to see the brighter side, recognizing that the same egos and a willingness to take on risks allowed these people to do some remarkable things.

In the case of Bear Stearns, more than a few fellow WallStreeters might see the dramatic collapse of the legendary investment bank as a sort of comeuppance for a firm that was notorious for its arrogance and had a knack for making enemies, even in the rough-and-tumble, take-no-prisoners business of high finance.

Some of the same traits that helped make Bear Stearns a financial success, namely its attraction to risk, led to its downfall through a classic run on the bank, made fatal by the bank's high exposure to subprime lending and lots of leverage.

New York Times columnist Paul Krugman notes that Bear Stearns was a "major promoter of the most questionable subprime lenders." He also reminded readers that when the Federal Reserve Bank attempted a financial rescue of Long-Term Capital Management in 1998, Bear Stearns refused to participate in the plan.

The Bear Stearns story seems to have some parallels to the Enron executives, whose story was told in a book whose title labeled the Enron executives as the "smartest guys in the room." Bear Stearns can be seen as the subprime version of the smartest guys in the room, for whom there was no end to the ways of making a dollar, regardless of the risks or possible consequences.

The personal side of the recent spectacular crash-and-burn stories finds the disgraced former governor, Spitzer, who made a name for himself as an aggressive prosecutor going after corruption on Wall Street. As New York's attorney general, his investigations into — and prosecutions of — corporate crime and malfeasance in the financial arena (including a 2004 bust of a prostitution ring)was at the core of the reputation that sent Spitzer to the governor's office.

But Spitzer's image as a crime-busting superhero couldn't survive the hypocrisy of his apparent involvement in a high-end prostitution service. He resigned soon after the news surfaced.

Another politician whose career will end as a result of arrogance and a sense of entitlement is Fumo, a powerful Philadelphia Democrat. He's facing a 139-count federal indictment that charges him with misusing about $1 million in state funds for his own benefit by having legislative staffers do a wide range of personal work for him. The federal corruption case also charges Fumo with misuse of about $1 million in assets of his pet nonprofit agency, Citizens' Alliance for Better Neighborhoods, for his personal benefit.

Fumo has many fans in Philadelphia, who, despite the charges against him, insist that he has done many positive things for the residents of that city and the state. They say there will never be another one like him. Still, Fumo's story seems to affirm that ego, arrogance and a sense of entitlement can intoxicate some powerful people, leading to their eventual downfall.

And as a millionaire prior to entering state government, Fumo did not need to have Citizens' Alliance buy things for him or have state workers taking care of his residences.He did not need to create ways to use what he fondly referred to as "other people's money" to fund his luxurious lifestyle. But he did it because he could.

It's doubtful that these dramatic examples will serve as much of a warning or deter others from following a similar path, and prevent similar stories from appearing in the news a few years from now. Too often, there is an attitude in these over-achieving highfliers that other people might get caught, but I won't.