You might view Philip Milne as one of the many casualties of the current financial crunch, another top exec who lost his job because of his company’s disastrous investments in subprime mortgages.

In the end, it would seem that the bottom line at Bear Stearns Cos. for James Cayne was the bottom line.

The investment bank’s leader went through public relations hell in November when The Wall Street Journal reported that he had spent a lot of time playing either golf or bridge in July while his company was struggling with losses in its sub-prime mortgage funds.