I think this is a large part of why Finance pays so well. You pay more when the environment sucks, so people who want to be paid well have a large incentive for continuing the trend. Sadly, it works because having an unethical staff and an incentive structure can pay off when tricking customers is the #1 way to make money.

Ex: Do you know every fee pulled out of your 401k? Most people I asked did not even realize there where any costs associated with their company's plans.

PS: It's not just the poor/middle class falling for this. Look at average VC returns with and without their 2/20 fee structure.