While your example might have applied in the past (and this is in itself a morally charged debate), where is the value creation today in the age of crowdfunding & open everything? What does he do that the crowd and an efficiently informed funding market cannot?
A well-informed individual can be much more effective than a crowd. An informed funding market -- well, what is that? In the end, the person who makes the decision is a vital part of just that market, and his power to make the decision lies in money. How rare a good decision-maker is, as well as how often he gets to the position to use this knowledge, determines his value in such a market. That's not so different from what an investment banker does.
the problem with your answer is that it has made you and every honest banker out there believe that billion dollar deals are "normal" and that 100 million dollar paydays are "normal" for an investment banker deal. that's ridiculous. b/c of the systemic corruption from the fact that the banking industry in general has gotten hold of the printing presses in every country doesn't make huge payoffs for even the honest bankers sustainable or fair compared to the menial salaries for say what a doctor or lawyer make in comparison. it used to be the other way around and i would argue those 2 professions create just as much or more value for their patients or clients as an investment banker.
this control of the money supply is precisely why a millionaire is no big deal anymore; a billionaire is the new "normal"; at least for a bankster. even the honest ones. those types of payoffs are unreachable for anyone else in society.
Again, I find it important to
distinguish those who mess with money supply or use other underhanded tricks! Someone who does investment in a large, liquid market should have very little control over money supply. The problems come up when "too big to fail" aka monopolies, governments and corruption comes into play.
We live on a planet with over 7.000.000.000 people on it. Someone has to make big, and sometimes experimental, decisions. I would very much prefer if that's not only governments and their stupid games.
as to the part about what Vandroiy claims are transparent auctions? talk to me about Libor manipulation. it's a base rate that affects ALL other bond auctions and interest rates. this corruption is what allows ALL bankers, honest or not, to make outrageous amounts of money on IB deals and whatnot.
as i said before, no one else in society can attain those levels of income b/c they aren't inside this fraudulent system that allows them to borrow at 0% or get their bad highly speculative bond deals bailed out thru monetization.
Those are clear examples of playing dirty. We should jail the people who do such things; the last thing we need is continued dishonesty by those who set the benchmarks. Though, in the case of bailed-out bond speculations, the politicians should be locked up first. They're the cause, tempting and pushing the banks to play along. Banks who don't play get a disadvantage against those who do; a horrible incentive system that breeds lies and corruption.
I'm just as angry at Libor, the bail-outs, the money printing, the central banks' bond buying and all those other ways of defrauding the general public. But I believe that the root of the problem stems from politics, rather than from the structure of the banking system. (Except for the central banks -- but I guess that's a given since we're on Bitcointalk.
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