Are programmers overpaid? Are doctors?

A post on Joel on Software, a popular blog, asks if programmers are overpaid. Here's the link.

Among the replies:

"Most people in the United States, regardless [of] industry, are underpaid in relation to how much upper management is getting paid. I expect the same is true of other countries as well."

"I think the good ones [meaning programmers] are underpaid. If a medical doctor earns 200k to 300k a year, the good programmers should earn that. The problem is how to pay such salaries and keep the other employees happy with the difference."

"I suppose a real economist would point out that the salaries paid to programmers and doctors are not determinied by your or my assesment of their worth to society, but by the marginal costs of finding replacments for them."

What do you think? Do you employ programmers and, if so, do you think they are under- or overpaid? And what groups of workers do you think, generally speaking, are compensated too much or too little for their contribution to a company's success?

Mike Hofman was previously editor of Inc.com and a deputy editor at Inc. magazine, which he joined in 1996. The site was nominated for a National Magazine Award for Digital Media in 2010, and was named the best business website by Folio Magazine. In 2006, Hofman was part of a team of writers nominated for a Webby Award for best business blog. He lives in New York City. @mikehofman