I'll also note that this has coincided with the European institutions turning from French-speaking and French-inspired to English-speaking and English-inspired, because of the arrival of the Scandinavian countries, the replacement of fundamentally pro-European Mitterrand by euro-skeptic Chirac, in addition to overall trends. In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes
the real, massive increases in CEO pay mainly happened in two phases: in the dotcom bullrun of the late 90s, and in the more recent Bush years.
and this to show that most of the increase in incomes have come in the form of higher wages rather than in the form of capital gains:
Wage increases are associated with the managerial class, ofcourse. In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes
So it's not just about the dot-com starting in the 1990's as you claim. A man of words and not of deeds is like a garden full of weeds; a man of deeds and not of words is like a garden full of turds — Anonymous
After that, the smash-and-grab was on, and the CEO class never looked back.
http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-8010445.html
and here is a link to some document related to the FDIC investigation a decade later which mentions his base pay and bonuses in 1987 adding up to over $2million. I can't remember what eventually happened to Baldini, but he got into some trouble after the bank/mortgage company failed. It was an 80s thing.
http://www.qui-tam.net/USga1121.htm
In 1987, Jim Baldini, the president of Comfed mortgage made over 2 million dollars. Less than $400,000 was salary; the rest was "bonus." As I recall at the time, it was shocking to think that anyone could possibly "earn" that much money in one year.
