On being overpaid (or underpaid) for work

The work of a management consultant is no more complex than that of a bank teller, a journalist, a musician, or a chef.  Yet management consulting is one of the high-paying fields in the developed world.  It's not for demand-and-supply factors either: there are millions of people who can do the work required - a little math, a little pressure, teamwork, powerpoint, and politics.  Why then does the difference in pay persist? 

Does excess pay create real problems in society?  Robert Reich argues that the work of highly-paid financiers, corporate lawyers, lobbyists, and management consultants ... zero-sum games ... amount to a mammoth waste of societal resources. 

As you know, he's a former US Secretary of Labour, who has a lot of thoughts on Work and Worth - an interesting topic that overlaps with politics.