But, they all own a lot of stocks and patents in their own company.
I think, if corporate CEO are paid less like a $1, they just get paid in stocks which could make them very rich if the company does well in the future.
It's an interesting point of view to consider. Look at it from the point of view of the CEO: they worked so impossibly hard to make their company worth something, so in their eyes they deserve that cut of the salary. And then you have the employees who believe if the CEO's do this, they end up suffering because the CEO is stealing from the company.
Of course, when you have CEO's who actually are devoted wholly to their companies and actually invest into their companies(via stock), it drives them to make the company better; not just sit there and wait for a fat check.
Honestly, I'm not sure. If it was a government or non profit management job maybe, but is it really our business what someone in a private company is paid? Shouldn't they be paid what they and others there think their worth? Because I suspect if we set a cap on CEO salaries, it might end up driving away as many people as it helps.
Executive salaries are an incentive for good executives to work for a particular company. If the CEO of your company was paid less, you might be paid more, but you might then loose your job altogether because an incompetent CEO might take the job.
Jealousy doesn't benefit anyone. Being a wage-slave in America is still infinitely better than being an actual slave in a third world country.
Depends on if the company is doing well or struggling. If you got a company that is doing great business, then I see no problem with a CEO making good money for doing a good job, of course this also applies to everyone else on down the ladder.
If a company is doing awful, then the CEO should be willing to make at least some sacrifice in their pay to help the company out. After all, they are the head of it so they should be willing to lead by example and take at least a small cut in pay and get no bonus, to show they are looking to cut costs, even at the expense of themselves.