To critics of Wall Street and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. in general, Greg Smith's op-ed broadside Wednesday must have seemed like something out of a feel-good Hollywood script.

You know the one: A fictional "Jerry Maguire" or Howard Beale of "Network" turns the tables on an employer that has sold out its ethics. The comeuppance is delivered with dramatic music and the hero shouting: "I'm mad as hell, and I'm not going to take it anymore!"

Mr....