[bobzibub]

Not an economist but B.A. Econ here. (Comp sci degree/career came later.) The difference is the product. In the products these companies sell, especially for us, with web based software, the marginal cost of selling to one more customer is very low. An EE could design an excellent device, but the marginal cost of selling that device is still high. As are the services offered by Lawyers etc. It is the efficient scaling of products that make them so valuable. Those companies that have scaled (or have the potential to scale) their product typically have a lot of money to throw at building it. Those individuals which have the capacity to build scale-able products are in high demand and hence have high pay. My two cents anyway.