Is the title of this new very long article by John Cassidy of New Yorker. It is a balanced article. It shows how Wall Street which started for a useful purpose of channelising savings of surplus units to deficit units has become just a trading and speculating street. Earlier bulk of revenues and profits came from first activity and now from second activity.
He interviews practitioners, policymakers and economists on their view of finance and its usefulness. He discusses many issues related to financial sector- compensation issues, lobbying, economic research etc..
To sum up, Wall Street is obviously useful but has become too big and is mostly doing useless activities now. A very nice weekend reading.