Key Points
The economist in me, who finds markets fascinating but was then a poor graduate student, saw this as a warning sign: If an industry is paying high salaries to people who arent great at what they do, then something is wrong..
Techs outsizerewards depended on nascent firms getting lots of venture capital and eventually going public or, more likely, getting acquired by a larger company..
But these modern settings for this quest the finance industry and the tech industry are unusual in that they attracted many people who expected to get rich even if they lacked two things normally associated with extreme wealth creation: creating lots of value for the economy, and taking smart risks..
Even if interest rates stay high, government money offers capital without much risk (at least to people in the industry)..
Like finance and tech before it, the new industry will attract its share of obnoxious people in it just to hit their number..
