What would you do with $135 billion? You could build 675 of Larry Ellison yachts. Or buy the New York Mets, about 157 times.

$135 billion is also the record amount of money the 25 biggest publicly traded Wall Street banks and securities firms laid out in 2010 for employee pay and benefits, as our Deal Journal colleagues reported today. Thats a 5.7% increase from those companies total pay and benefits for 2009.

Even...