When Spacey referred to the traders unloading the bad mortgage-backed securities as damaging their careers, it's because they were doing something unethical and possibly illegal: intentionally selling investments they knew to be worthless.
Once a trader knows what they're doing, they probably will not get another job because their reputation has been ruined. They're unethical, at best. No one, least of all the public, will trust them.
As for the others, it's hard to get another job after you've been laid off, as we all know. ESPECIALLY if you're over a certain age, like Tucci (altho he wasn't a traderhe was a risk manager, I think). There are so many who want to be traders, and are traders, that there's no reason to hire someone who has been laid off. Companies are always leery of people who have been laid off. A company laying workers off doesn't lay off the cream of the crop.

I think of it more as can't find a job with similar compensation
the coins in the jar are for charity,
the coins in the tray are for sharing

Many companies make you sign non compete agreements. But yes they could surely find something with fairly similar pay in a slightly different sector that utilises the same skills.

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