The growth of the financial services industry has exploded since 1980, and as more people entered finance the profits in the industry soared. The Bureau of Labor statistics noted that the number of people in finance increased from five million to about seven and half million. In 1980 finance represented about one-seventh of the economy. By 2006 at the height of the financial bubble created by mortgage speculation, the figure had grown to almost one-third of the American economy.

From 1945 to 1980 the salaries of people in finance mirror those in other industries. Since 1980 the figures have become so skewed that the financial sector looked down of the reach of the economy like a giant on ants. Wages in the financial industry are now about 60 percent higher than in other industries and the income gap is expected to grow. While other industries are in the midst of pay freezes or a loss of benefits, employees at major investment banks are expected to receive healthy bonuses. At Goldman Sachs, it has been said that more than 1,000 employees received bonuses of at least $1 million in 2009.

As a result of this, many of the best students in the country head off to jobs in finance. Recently a Harvard economics professor lamented that so many top students headed off to work in finance. The most recent Harvard graduating class reported that up to about one-third of those with jobs were going to work in financial services. Stock trading might be lucrative for the individual and for the banks, but what about the general public?

Those without a firm grasp of what they are investing into might be taking huge risks without even knowing it. The banks trading with other people’s money might invest in projects that have little to no long-term value in hopes of making a quick profit.