This is not quite the progress people expected with Wall Street reform. Wall Street traders provide little, if any, value to society so until these dynamics change, we should not expect a different result. Just as Washington tweaked the system to encourage this current situation, Washington needs to encourage smart students to take up professions that actually provide a value to society. The country certainly doesn't need more traders who have figured out how to game the system though we probably need more brain surgeons. Bloomberg:
Wall Street traders discouraged by declining bonuses this month can take solace: They still earn much more than brain surgeons and top U.S. generals.
An oil trader with 10 years in the business is likely to earn at least $1 million this year, while a neurosurgeon with similar time on the job makes less than $600,000, recruiters estimated. After a decade of deal-making, merger bankers take home about $2 million, more than 10 times what a similarly seasoned cancer researcher gets (see table below).
The pay gap between finance and other professions widened between the 1980s and 2006, exceeding the record set before the Great Depression, according to a 2009 study by Thomas Philippon, a professor at New York University’s Stern School of Business. After the 2008 financial crisis, Wall Street started paying a larger portion of bonuses in stock and restricted cash. Yet there’s little sign the gap with Main Street is narrowing.
