What would Carnegie do about corporate pay, charity? - Yahoo! News

What would Carnegie do about corporate pay, charity? - Yahoo! News: "Andrew Carnegie were still around, odds are he'd come up with a way to quell the increasingly noisy debate over hefty executive pay increases.

To lay the groundwork for his recommendations, he'd likely open with a couple of disquieting facts:

• Survey results reported in The Wall Street Journal revealed that last year, CEOs of 350 major U.S. companies were paid $4.1 billion in salary, bonus and realized long-term compensation. The median pay for these executives jumped 23% over what they earned in 2004.

• Corporate charitable contributions, on the other hand, increased only 5.5% in 2005. When the IRS adds the donation deductions that 400,000 businesses typically take in any tax year, corporate giving is expected to total approximately $13 billion.

So, what's the connection between surging executive pay and relatively sluggish corporate philanthropy? None. But Carnegie, who made his fortune from steel, might argue there should be."

Tags: CEO compensation