I thought Krugman’s Op-Ed about compensation in the financial sector was interesting.  The one-sentence summary:  “I question the value of these financial innovations, and why are they getting paid so much?”

Financial innovators have a huge advantage:  they build their compensation right into the innovation itself.  Find a place to take a percent or two (as risk-free as possible), and at scale you’ve got real money.

Compare this to (say) technology innovation:  getting paid is frequently as much work (if not more) than the original innovation.