Huge salaries for private sector executives have been getting lots of congressional and media scrutiny lately. Before the economic collapse of late last year, you heard about big executive pay packages only in the context of the broader policy debate about income distribution–that it was unhealthy for our society to have too wide a gap between the haves and the have-nots. Now it’s different. The Wall Street types are starting to get the kind of scrutiny that non-profit executives have been getting for years.
The plutocrats/corporate titans/Masters of the Universe (pick your own disparaging term) are now in the same boat with us and for the same reason. When the taxpayers started bailing out banks, insurance companies and perhaps even (by the time you read this) the Big Three automakers, the public’s instinct for fair play kicked in big time.
