Originally Posted by davidmash

I think the market has little to do with executive salary. I do not think there is any job where someone 'earns' $150 million for doing anything. The BOD dictate salaries. Many CEO's are on the BOD's of other companies. Look at Micro Soft's as an example. To say that there is no back scratching going on I think is naive. Also, there are CEO's of companies bankrupt or poor performing companies. Look at the banking industry, Lehman Brothers or Citi Group.

According to this study, about 40% of CEO's were, to say the least, not deserving of their salary. Of the 40%. 22% were in companies that were bailed out. Another 8% got canned but on average got a $48 million severance package. Another 8% had to pay fraud related fines.


So I am going to go with NO. These salaries are neither deserved nor earned. Should good performers be paid well. Yes. And yes everyone has a different definition of what "well" is. As far as I am concerned, everyone on the first list I posted above is far beyond what I define as "well".