主题：【原创】是我太乐观，还是社会太悲观 -- 月色溶溶

Actually, their base salary is not much. Entry level, around 70k in NY, manager level's base pay is higher, around 20k to 30k, but most of their compensation comes from annual bonus--this compensation structure creates very dangerous incentive for them to do things that might harm clients as well as the general public.

BTW, their annual compensation is much more volatile compared with the pay of other people in the public sector. Recession risk and layoff risk are much higher than jobs in many other industries. There is also no union there to help you out. In terms of IQ and EQ, I have to admit that people work in the hedge fund/IB/PE funds are really really smart. This is an observation based on my friends and my former students. Banks get the top cream of my students.

In sum, risk, IQ/skill superiority partially explains the high pay. BTW, your family background and family connections also helps, esp., in Toronto, not that much in NY.

为什么mba的毕业生，第一选择是ib。--most of them never get in the door. MBA does not translate into the offer.

On the other side, 但作为总体，他们收入非常高，投行利用其控制的资源，获得了超越其劳动强度的受益，--I fully agree with you. I am a big supporter of the Volcker's rules. It is time to contain the financial service industry before its greed consumes the whole society.

简单说，他们控制着这个世界，获得了类似国内中移动的超额利润。

--I agree. While, before 1600, no nation in this world had such a global advantage. They fought hard to gain that. Developed nations(actually only Britain and US) established the global trading/financial order and the framework does help them. 那是因為人家祖宗積德, 精英階層勇于科技創新 or 對外爭奪資源以服務自身需要以及本國貧民ｏ 擴張法帝國與英帝國時二國貴族皆沖鋒在前線,為本國國民爭奪到了優越的生存條件的. 人家老祖宗浴血拼來的地位憑什么要跟不付出努力的后來者分享?

You know I have little respect for China's political or economic elites.

On the international economic or political arena, China elites lacked all kinds of skills and sometimes embarrassingly unpresentable. Xu Wenyin is just top of the iceberg (There are other examples associated with senior diplomats). If she never goes to States, we will never know how incompetent she is. That can partially be attributed to the cronyism back in China.

When cronyism meets meritcracy on the global arena, the humiliation is really unforgetable.

Therefore, there is only one way to get rich for them: rip off the poor working class of their compatriots and sweat shop is just one example. There is no voting system to constrain their abuse.

In the history of Britain, US, Italy..., they all had sweat shop period. But the political pressure finally pushed up the labor treatment and labor protection. In China, the elites have addicted to the current status quo.

说到体制，东亚（日韩）的体制和东南亚的体制并无太多不同，但差异巨大。不得不说，一个国家的社会发展程度与文化和努力程度密切相关。

--Yes, you talk about results under an open system where there is free trade, global investment and capital flow. This is the Anglo-Saxon-American order we live in since 1800.

--When each nation lives as a close society with little international interaction, Wolfgan(another guy on ccthere) is right--more labor effort does not translate into economic progress, because capital is limited. Koreans, Chinese and Japanese were actually more hardworking before their door were smashed open in 1840s. But they were not well-off before that.

A pleasure to chat with you.