>>but even a couple of million for the very top head honchos would IMO not suck that much up and create such distortions.

An example of the distortion is in prices. 40 years ago a professor of surgery could buy a very nice house in the best part of town. In 2012, if there are banksters or "traders" around then most likely the professor is priced out of the market. This is the opposite of the relativity I observed earlier and it has nothing to do with taxation levels. It's also crazy for society: what sort of market allows people on whom we depend for quality in areas that matter a great deal, to be priced out of the place they want to live? The word "elitism" may have a bad rep but the essence of civilization is specialization and if you don't reward the specialists, eventually the elites are replaced by the plodders and the sleepy decline begins. Just ask the Soviets. To me it seems little different from drug criminals showing easy money in the slums: it sends completely the wrong message and turns ideas about contribution and service into fables. The message is that life is about easy money and selfishness and if you don't want to be a muppet you need to forget everything else except how to climb aboard the gravy train.