The strategic and technical games that go on in the markets are engaging to watch, but they're basically ways of winning the most money (from the investor's/spe

The strategic and technical games that go on in the markets are engaging to watch, but they're basically ways of winning the most money (from the investor's/speculator's viewpoint). The more complex they get, and the higher the bid prices for talent which can win these games, the more the talent and energy is diverted from fields that could advance society more (say, basic research, or new product/tech development). So you get more smart kids going to biz school with an eye towards a place on Wall Street, instead of a broader distribution. That's my view on why financial jobs, and possibly large-scale investment, in general should be less profitable - though how to achieve that is a very open question (not sure how well capital gains taxes would work).