the past and the future (relating to dealbook article)

I'm sure most of you have seen these articles on NYT or Deal Book by now: http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2011/11/21/wall-st-la… http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2011/11/22/for-distre…

Two questions arose while reading these The first had to do with the bonfire of vanities referece. I constantly hear from old time wall streeters that their compensation was extremely excessive, but Just how much were kids in their late 20's making back in the day? "Million dollar apartments and still young enough to blush." To be 28-30 making 500k as a VP is impressive but nearly impressive enough to afford a down payment on that kind of place.

The second question I had is, what's next? The industry is obviously going through a structural change. As the HBS professor said, the Goldman and Morgans of the world aren't going anywhere but things will never be as they were. Curious as to what everyones thoughts are. Fewer employees with same pay? equal number of employees with lesser pay? equal number of employees, average pay, and 50 hour work weeks?

It's hard to think of wall street without excess. After all, how many of us work 90 hour weeks for anything less than six figures.