Executive Pay Scorecard for 2009

Every spring, top U.S. media outlets and business research organizations release compensation surveys that detail executive pay levels over the preceding year. These surveys seldom sample the same corporations — or measure pay the exact same way — and, consequently, almost always generate somewhat different results. This Too Much table compares the various reports released in 2010 on CEO pay for 2009.

In a Crackpot Economy, Endless Jackpots

At what point will our world wake up to the fantastically rewarding scam that our hedge fund masters of the universe have been running?

Too Big to Fail: An Executive Suite Story

If a blunder you committed cost your employer $4 million, how long would you stay employed? In America today, a CEO can cost his company $4 billion and still collect both a paycheck and a bonus.

How Power Suits Subvert the Law of the Land

Lawmakers make laws. They don’t enforce them. Corporate America understands that difference — and exploits it with a relentless regularity. The latest case in point: the battle over outrageous CEO pay. Read more . . .

On Wall Street, Still Tis the Season to Be Jolly?

Financial industry insiders are grousing about a big downturn in annual bonuses. They should be thanking the rest of us — bombshell new research shows — for their continuing awesome good tidings.

The Empty Promise of ‘Pay for Performance’

Pundits and politicians love to righteously denounce the windfall rewards that go to corporate CEOs who ‘fail.’ But windfalls for CEOs who ‘perform,’ researchers suggest, ought to worry us far more.

Can Anyone Tackle Our Tax-Dodging CEOs?

A new report from the Institute for Policy Studies documents how America’s top corporate execs are stiffing Uncle Sam at tax time — and lavishly lining their own pockets in the process.

A Call from Labor: Ban Big Bank Stock Options

Federal agencies are now preparing new regulations for enforcing the banker pay reforms enacted last summer. These new regs, says the AFL-CIO, need to prohibit the ‘incentive’ that’s still stuffing bankers with billions.

America’s Billion-Dollar-a-Year Men

Hedge fund honchos bet on stocks. They bet on gold. They bet on lawsuits. Most of all, they bet that the rest of us will never wise up to the awesome giveaway our current tax code ladles on them. Read more . . .

Life at the Top: An Endless Bowl of Bonuses

The latest figures on Wall Street bonus compensation reveal a recovery that starts — and stops — at America’s economic summit.