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[...] Ok, lets assume for a moment that banks do manage to attract the required talent, and their CEOs are happy with life. What about the employees. Obama said nothing about a pay cap for them. In investment banks, the traders make most of the real money. And its largely because of the traders and the product structurers that we are in this mess. They have no salary caps. Their salary and bonuses are largely performance-based, and can often be comparable to that of the upper-level management. The point of a pay cap is to reduce systemic greed and control the banks’ risk appetites. If only CEOs are affected, how does the message trickle down through the hierarchy and reach the employees that actually make the mistakes? It doesn’t. A pay cap is roughly as effective as a publicity stunt. Or as effective as what the government does in this comic. [...]