While it's true that in practice most programmers are bricklayers (especially given the growth of the industry leading to a young-skewing population), that doesn't invalidate the GP's thesis that domain expertise is a good lever for compensation growth. The biggest mistakes and greatest successes of my programming career have always been related to the breadth of my understanding of the product domain and UX that I was operating in.

The other thing I find curious in your comment is the implication that strategy is usually set by domain experts who tend to be consultants. This very much runs counter to my experience, where consultants are brought in for specific jobs or problems where an outside perspective is needed, but generally those things are scope-boxed or time-boxed tangents to the business. The big strategy is generally set by leaders and influencers within the company via a mix of formal and informal venues. These individuals will have the most knowledge of the context specific to that business and how it competes in the marketplace. Consultants, by contrast, can develop a cross-cutting knowledge of industry, which can be a valuable data point well worth paying for, but a company who relies on consultants as the primary driver of strategy is rudderless and probably in decline.