<p>I know why. Because ultimately, deep down, they know that their work contributes little to society. They’re nothing more than over-educated and overpaid paper pushers. The real valuable members of society are the teachers, doctors, stay-at-home parents, community organizers, miners, businesspeople, plumbers, techies, sincere politicians, and hell, even entertainers who not only make life pleasant for us but also create meaningful art from time to time. </p>
<p>Wall Street people can only define their self-worth through their salaries. They’re not exceptionally intelligent (at least in honest ways) or talented, so they seek to derive their self-worth through money because nobody can land a windfall of IQ points or artistic ability, but they can suddenly find themselves with a pile of cash, deservedly or not. </p>
<p>That’s why I can’t stand finance types. They almost always seem to have inflated senses of self-worth based upon absolutely nothing. They want to believe they’re better than everybody else (nothing particularly wrong with this), but nothing makes them exceptional. So they try to convince the world that being the best equals being the wealthiest, because given their own inherent deficiencies, that’s the only thing they can aspire to.</p>
<p>We see this on Wall Street again and again. Top-level executives paying themselves and each other more and more in a quietly desperate attempt to give importance to their lives.</p>
<p>So, if I loan money to a gazillion people so they can go to the college of their dreams, buy the house with a white picket fence, drive the convertible to the beach, own that business they have always dreamed of, and in the process make a gazillion dollars, why shouldn’t I make a lot of money?</p>
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<p>Maybe not in a way that you consider “worthwhile”. If it were so easy, why don’t you do it?</p>
<p>Someone obviously does not understand the financial sector.</p>
<p>Put quite simply, these people allocate capital, and often work hand in hand with the government to ensure sound monetary policy.</p>
<p>That said, the extraordinary salaries of America’s top tier managers, often regardless of performance, is a chronic issue.</p>
<p>For you, I suggest Marx’s *Capital<a href=“a%20concise%20introductory%20text%20will%20do”>/i</a>, and Lenin’s Imperialism: The Highest Stage of Capitalism. That is of course, after you have taken some introductory economics courses in college.</p>
<p>You may want to start out with C. Wright Mills The Power Elite.</p>