but of course, you have to understand - they have to pay those guys millions, because how else would they attract the top talent? you know, that talent that led to untold numbers of wealth being systematically destroyed? You don't just find talent like that working for, say, $500k. You gotta pay millions to get talent that capable.
yeah, because they'd go work for the other investors who are making money hand over fist...you know...the other Wall Street...because there are so many and their skill set and salary requirements translates so well to other industries.
You have to pay millions because other people on Wall Street are paying millions thus the best talent goes there.
What you're implying is that we should have top-down wage controls (i.e. a command economy) or bottom-up wage controls (i.e. collusion). The first is an idea which is seductive, but historically a failure. The second is illegal under our current rules and should remain illegal lest you want every department store to collude to pay their workers minimum wage + 1 cent.
I'd argue that if the government (us) hadn't bailed everybody out, the firms would fail and then they'd make $0. If a small firm could afford to pull in some of the unemployed traders, more power to them, but then it's an employer's economy and the salaries (and bonuses) would be more reasonable. The market would more or less work itself out (though it could be painful in the short term).
> because there are so many and their skill set and salary requirements translates so well to other industries.
The skill set of completely fabricating what you and the company can accomplish, getting other people to believe it, accepting a "modest" salary of 10% of this fairy tale, deflecting all blame for anything that goes wrong, and looting the company in your severance package (because you would do the same for your good old boys on the board), most surely does translate to just about any industry.
I agree that majority of managers are attracted by large sums of cash and other perks and were probably even more just a few years ago, but not all. JAL's CEO cut his own wage (from article it seems like that only his wife didn't like idea too much;) ), he's Japanese and I don't know their culture and values good enough to understand if that's normal or not for them.
However founders don't work 24/7 for the reason of cash primarily. I do work to show my talent, to create great work, perhaps even change the world for better. Can't do it for nothing as I need some cash for living, but you get the idea.
I like his attitude more than those bank executives that got bailed out and paid themselves multi millions at the same time.