If officers who put their life on the line in the most populated/congested city for 150k are overpaid, then I'd like to talk to some software developers in San Francisco.
Being a police officer is less dangerous than being a house painter, convenience store clerk, taxi driver, or any of a multitude of jobs in which you are not given a stick and a gun and encouraged to use them freely.
Given that nearly half of work-related casualties police officers experience come down to things like heart attacks on the job, I'd be interested in seeing the statistics. Sitting in front of a computer cannot be good for long-term heart health.
Either way, it's more dangerous to be a pizza delivery boy than it is to be a cop.
Except that's not true as it stands right now, because if it were, companies would pay that amount since the private sector relies on markets to make decisions in a way the public sector often doesn't.
Have you ever seen an MTA job fair, thousands of people are fighting for jobs that are considered low skill when you start where they train you on the rest. They should lower wages until that line dies down and to maximize hiring with the same budget.
VCs have distorted the market for programmer salaries to the point that they are artificially 2x-3x what they should be in the absence of VC funding. When that bubble bursts, programming is going to return to its historic means, especially when most businesses start calculating the actual costs and benefits of the software they use/need. Until then, enjoy the party while it lasts.
I have to still disagree here, top tech companies have massive profit margins and could easily pay their employees far more than they do now. It's all about how much you prioritize talent, this said I would expect a deflation of new grad salaries with an increase in senior/principal salaries over the long run as is comparable with other human capital intensive industries like banking and consulting.
No it's not, there are millions of people living in NYC on half of that and they are supporting on average 2.67 people with that much money. Just because you cannot afford lower manhattan market rate real estate doesn't mean that you live in poverty.