a couple of exceptions because of their role in the economy said cohen whos now senior chair of sullivan cromwell llp they are intermediaries theyre borrowing and theyre lendingthe decade was a frothy time to be a banker personnel expenses for the six companies which had hovered around 148 billion at the beginning of the era before dropping for a few years jumped to 154 billion in 2019 never mind that their overall number of employees had actually fallen jamie dimon the jpmorgan boss whod already become a billionaire would eventually get such a big pay package that a proxy advisory firm told shareholders to vote against itone of the goals of a good society is that everyone including those people at the bottom have enough to survive and flourish said mass the former goldman partner who now studies ethics i am ok that people are paid well for producing products and services that increase the overall level of wealth in society but only when we combine that with appropriate taxation and sufficient social safety so that those at the bottom can flourish he added that he isnt enough of an expert to say if current taxes and safety nets are the right sizefew things transformed the landscape of wall street as profoundly as the pandemics arrival in 2020 to avoid economic cataclysm the government rolled out relief programs for consumers and businesses and the fed bought trillions of dollars of assets the market mayhem brought back the volatility that trading floors crave corporations lined up to borrow raise capital or buy weakened competitorsthings were changing inside the banks too when police murdered george floyd that may diop found himself inundated with messages from classmates and colleaguesit was from an actual good place and well meaning but at the same time you get 20 of those calls because you are the lone person that comes up he said it was exhausting to be everyones black friend at that momentthat september the news that jane fraser would become the first woman to run one of the big us banks was greeted by her colleagues with cheers but also frustration for how long it tooki tried to change the industry from the inside out at the three largest banks and i failed i have the shards of glass on my head to show it said anne clarke wolff a former executive at citigroup jpmorgan and bank of america who founded independence point advisors last year in 10 years at a big bank the ceo didnt spend 10 minutes with me and i was among the most senior womenin early 2020 analysts were writing obituaries for wall streets run of record profits instead the banks helped spark the boom of blankcheck companies known as spacs later once regulators got jittery and prices soured investors were left holding the bagprofits in 2021 also got help from an accounting move the banks felt good enough about the economy thanks to government intervention