I hate to derail this terrific thread, but I must respond.
Thank you for your concern, internet poster "LegendKiller." To be frank, I don't make nearly as much as the many AT P&N internet millionaires reading this, but I do sleep well at night. The thing is--while I'm really good at what I do, and I really like what I do--the metric by which my success is measured isn't the hard dollar profit I bring in. I"m happy with this, because had I wanted to be a smooth-talking monkey in a tuxedo, I would have gone to business-school.
First off, what the fuck is up with this "internet poster "LegendKiller" shit? Are you mentally handicapped?
I sleep well at night to, just as much as the next guy. I'm really good at what I do also. Great for you, you didn't go get an MBA. Nobody gives a fuck but it's obvious your ideas are stupid and without merit. Thus, you probably couldn't get one anyway.
If by "ability to get deals done" you mean "gambling away others' money," and then, when the house-of-cards crumbles, "get more of others' money to keep you gambling," then my answer is: FUCK YES. I will rail against this because it's wrong and unethical. You don't seem like the type to rail against it, but then again you seem like the type of fucker who cares about the bottom line regardless of the ethics, AMIRITE?
This is why you fail. Allocators of capital have *NEVER* risked just their money, they never have and never will. Aggregation and intermediation of capital has aided this country in growing and is the only reason why we still aren't farmers. The first bonds and stocks were floated by merchant bankers who rarely put any significant amount of capital into the actual transactions, the investors were the ones who lost money.
The problem is, no single investor, or group of investors, could arrange investments in large corporations or projects. Thus, groups of investors must come together. The only way to do that is to have somebody organize them that knows the group.
Of course, populist assclowns like you would love to bring the world back down to pig farmers and nail makers. Maybe we could follow Thomas Jefferson, live outside of our means, rack up more than 100,000 in debt by the time we die, fail at every business we run (farming, nail making, and milling), owe that money to banks, but then rail against the banks because of our own inability to control spending.
Ohh, wait, that's exactly what this Stack guy did. IT WAS HIS OWN FUCKING FAULT.
Tarzan love rich monkey! Rich monkey buy bottle service! Jane also love bottle service! Jane go home later with Tarzan anyway because rich monkey has rich-monkey superiority complex and has small monkey cock.
WTF?