Reply #16: I agree...

[ljm2002]

...although what with inflation and all, I'd allow a yearly income of $1M tops.

It has always amazed me how glibly the CEOs of the world and their boards of directors have made the argument that "Well we have to pay them that much or we won't get the top talent". One of the things that you learn in the business world is that it's all about incentives: if you want to build a certain kind of behavior, then you put incentives in place that encourage the desired behavior. When it comes to CEOs, the incentives are all about their greed and little else. In other words, all these obscene compensation packages do is select for the greediest people, not the "best" or "most talented" people.