Invasion of the booty snatchers: how greed is spreading out from the City

[CHIMO]

The aliens have landed – and they are multiplying. Richard Lambert, the director general of the CBI, recently warned the small corporate elite being paid enormous sums that they seemed to "occupy a different galaxy from the rest of the community" and risked being treated like beings from another planet.

His words appear to have had little effect. This year's season of annual meetings is shaping up to be a stormy one as executives defy the credit crunch with enormous rewards packages. At BP's shareholder meeting last week, there were protests at chief executive Tony Hayward's 41% pay rise over a period in which profits fell, as well as at the oil company's tar sands projects.

Investor adviser group Pirc described pay at the company as "excessive", noting that all executive directors received combined bonus and share awards of more than 700% of base salary, and criticised the executive directors' incentive plan for lack of transparency. But BP is just one instance of how the furore over bank bosses' pay has migrated out of the financial sector and into mainstream companies – and not the most egregious one.
Roger Bootle of Capital Economics says: "The pay culture of the City has affected expectations elsewhere. The whole climate is relevant here, because bad pay practices drive out the good.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/apr/18/executive-pay-invasion-booty-snatchers