It's worth remembering that whether we love them or hate them we need property developers (even Bob Jones admits that, and he hates being called a property developer). When times are good they are responsible for employing lots of people and generating lots of cash for everybody. And when times are bad... well, not so much.
I think the headline about Terry "owing the taxpayer $41m" is a little uncharitable also. That situation only came about because investors in South Canterbury Finance and Equitable Mortgages actually did get their money back through the Crown retail deposit guarantee scheme! Surely that's a better outcome than thousands of pensioners losing their life savings?
I suppose you could argue that those people shouldn't have invested in Finance companies prepared to make those sorts of loans in the first place, but really I think it just illustrates how unexpected and how severe this latest financial shock has been. It has swept up all sorts of people from every part of the economic spectrum, and Terry is just one.