London to overtake NYC as Financial Capital

Unsurprisingly the continued excessive regulatory scrutiny (i.e. SarbOx, legislation against PE and Hedgies, etc.), restrictions and general bias in the liberally-skewed culture against paying people what they deserve ("OMG, that guy got a $50 million bonus for doing something I can't understand! He must evil corporate swine!") is going to kill NYC's (and America's) stance in the world, and the repercussions will be dire at best. If America doesn't embrace true capitalism, and do it soon, it will perish as a power.

clipped from www.bloomberg.com March 26 (Bloomberg) -- London traders are raking in salaries and bonuses as much as 50 percent higher than their counterparts in the U.S. U.K. traders' earnings increased as much as 22 percent, while U.S. salaries and bonuses rose as much as 15 percent last year Growth in hedge funds has boosted employment and wages in London. The city accounts for about 40 percent of the industry worldwide Initial public offerings in Europe, led by listings on the London Stock Exchange, raised almost twice as much as in the U.S. in 2006 A study by New York consulting firm McKinsey & Co., commissioned by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Senator Charles Schumer, concluded that the U.S. would lose its place as the leading global financial center in the next decade without legal and regulatory changes. Europe's financial industry is approaching the U.S. in size, with investment-banking revenue of $98 billion last year, compared with $109 billion in the U.S.