The graph above shows that the financial industry now makes roughly half of all nonfarm corporate

profits in the U.S., a share which has risen five-fold since the end of World War II. Other things to note from this graph: (1) there is clearly a secular component to the rise; (2) the variance around the secular trend seems somewhat cyclical, but not enormously so; and (3) the financial sector's share of total profits has continued to increase through the recession and financial crisis. Part of this is the expansion of the financial sector within the American economy. Employment in the broadly-defined financial industry has risen from roughly 4 percent of payroll employment to 6 percent. But most of it is a huge increase in the profit per man-hour worked in the financial industry. Making some rough approximations about the financial industry's share of payroll employment, I can estimate that the average hour worked in the financial industry generates nearly 30 times the average per-man-hour profit in the rest of the economy. That's up from six times the average in 1964. This could very well be a question of global comparative advantage, but I find that hard to believe on the basis of the employment figures. It seems substantially more likely, rather, that the financial sector's profitability comes from the implicit and explicit subsidies of a market with high barriers to entry. Let's run though the explicit subsidies: the mortgage-interest deduction and other homebuyer credits, student loan aid, federal guarantees on debt, the preferential tax rates on capital gains and dividends, interest on reserves at the Fed, and the FDIC guarantee. The financial industry also benefits from substantial implicit regulatory subsidies such as "too-big-too-fail." I worry that our response to the financial crisis and the recession -- providing a "backstop" for the financial industry -- has amounted to little more than an increase in both forms of subsidy. That doesn't do very much for financial stability.

Rise of Finance: Evan Soltas tracks how finances share of profits has grown. The financial industry now makes roughly half of all nonfarm corporate profits in the U.S., a share which has risen five-fold since the end of World War II Part of this is the expansion of the financial sector within the American economy. Employment in the broadly-defined financial industry has risen from roughly 4 percent of payroll employment to 6 percent. But most of it is a huge increase in the profit per man-hour worked in the financial industry. Making some rough approximations about the financial industrys share of payroll employment, I can estimate that the average hour worked in the financial industry generates nearly 30 times the average per-man-hour profit in the rest of the economy. Thats up from six times the average in 1964.

The more we have monopoly, the more were going to have economic failure. Monopoly is government. The Rise of Finance by Evan Soltas 02/24/2013 (from a post he was working on for Bloomberg, sans graph) Thefinancial industry now makes roughly half of all nonfarm corporate profits in the U.S., a share which has risen five-fold since the end of World War II. Other things to note (1) there is clearly a secular component to the rise; (2) the variance around the secular trend seems somewhat cyclical, but not enormously so; and (3) the financial sector's share of total profits has continued to increase through the recession and financial crisis. Part of this is the expansion of the financial sector within the American economy. Employment in the broadly-defined financial industry has risen from roughly 4 percent of payroll employment to 6 percent. But most of it is a huge increase in the profit per man-hour worked in the financial industry. Making some rough approximations about the financial industry's share of payroll employment, I can estimate that the average hour worked in the financial industry generates nearly 30 times the average per-man-hour profit in the rest of the economy. That's up from six times the average in 1964. This could very well be a question of global comparative advantage, but I find that hard to believe on the basis of the employment figures. It seems substantially more likely, rather, that the financial sector's profitability comes from the implicit and explicit subsidies of a market with high barriers to entry. Let's run though the explicit subsidies: the mortgage-interest deduction and other homebuyer credits, student loan aid, federal guarantees on debt, the preferential tax rates on capital gains and dividends, interest on reserves at the Fed, and the FDIC guarantee. The financial industry also benefits from substantial implicit regulatory subsidies such as "too-big-to-fail." I worry that our response to the financial crisis and the recession -- providing a "backstop" for the financial industry -- has amounted to little more than an increase in both forms of subsidy. That doesn't do very much for financial stability.

-The U.S. finance industry comprised only 10% of total non-farm business profits in 1947, but it grew to 50% by 2010.[2]

Over the same period, finance industry income as a proportion of GDP rose from 2.5% to 7.5%, and the finance industry's proportion of all corporate income rose from 10% to 20%. The mean earnings per employee hour in finance relative to all other sectors has closely mirrored the share of total U.S. income earned by the top 1% income earners since 1930. The mean salary in New York City's finance industry rose from $80,000 in 1981 to $360,000 in 2011, while average New York City salaries rose from $40,000 to $70,000. In 1988, there were about 12,500 U.S. banks with less than $300 million in deposits, and about 900 with more deposits, but by 2012, there were only 4,200 banks with less than $300 million in deposits in the U.S., and over 1,800 with more.[3]