It looks like even Wall Streeters are feeling the pain of the economy as bonus season approaches. With revenues down across the major investment banks in 2011, the bonus pool this year is quite shallow compared to year’s past. Some estimates (as reported by the Wall Street Journal) forecast a bonus payout decrease of as much as 30% compared to 2010.

Don’t worry too much for these poor Wall Streeters. The average managing director’s bonus after salary will be about $900,000, down from about $1.2 million in 2010, according to a compensation survey from Johnson Associates. While the pay scale on Wall Street is still otherworldly relative to other industries, the bankers are not taking these changes in pay lightly.

According to the New York Post, some bankers are threatening to quit or even sue their firms over their lower bonuses.

Wall Street firms, meanwhile, are trying to stem an exodus by requiring bankers who leave after bonus day to pay back a portion of their bonuses.

So the tug of war between firms and employees in the country’s most profitable industry continues.

It’s hard to have sympathy though. Over half of America falls in the wealthiest 1% of the global population, and the wealthiest in our nation are maligned even here for their largess. It’s hard to imagine that $900,000 would be considered a mean sum anywhere on the planet … but that’s Wall Street for you.