I would tend to disagree that this article is not relevant, startup finance and access to funding for startups is highly dependent on the health of the financial system, and this article deals with the economics and the gaming of that system.
Designing comp packages that work is incredibly complicated. Anyone who proclaims some sort of blanket "solution" to the problem of how to compensate "bankers" probably knows so little that they don't know what they don't know. Normally in situations like that people on hn don't comment at all, but because this issue is so political everyone thinks they have the answer and need to share it with the world.
If you were there for 18 years as you said you were then you should have gamed a ridiculous amount of money out of the system and you would have been through at least 1 if not 2 recessions, 1 of which as a fairly senior banker.
Now 10+ years later when you see things like the 2008 recession, the current bankruptcy of MF Global and some of the Internet IPOs that are being pitched and sold to smaller institutions and retail investors, and the fees that are being taken, you have to wonder whether anything has really changed and really see how such compensation systems are not in the interests of a healthy financial system. Especially when taxpayers and shareholders have to bailout or bear the economic costs of the distortions created by these bonus systems.
Don't get me wrong there is nothing wrong with people being paid good bonuses and good compensation but as Nassim indicates the amounts being paid are excessive and don't truly reflect the risks being taken.
I don't know how relevant any compensation number would be to the point I am making. But if you did your research amongst the sec filings I am sure you will raise your eyebrows about how much money has been gamed and how disproportionate this is compared to the costs borne by taxpayers and others.
You do not need to take risk to make a lot of money in the United States. That is what makes us the greatest economic power house in the world. (yes, far greater than China who's average income is less than $5,000 per day) and especially Europe who is transferring all of their wealth to US treasuries to prevent loosing their money.
The rest of the world isn't even worth mentioning.