Should this apply to you as well?
So anyone not making a fraction of what you earn has reason to berate you, your salary, claim you don't deserve it, say that 'the system' is broken, and that you are a gluttonous jerk?
Hardly. I'm all for capitalism, but there is also something that shouldn't smack of obscene. This is obscene.
If I were a member of the Board, I'd make sure the executives are compensated very well, however I'd seek balance, not plunder. This is a publicly traded company with probably millions of shareholders and pension funds that are owners. I'd think longer term planning of the economic challenges and capital needs facing the company are more important than making one CEO feel like a Rockefeller. Sorry, he's one man, and although he contributed to the current success of the company, so did his lieutenants, his work force, market conditions and his board of directors. The company was there before he joined, it'll be there after, he's one of a string of CEO's that will come and go, and he didn't create the company from scratch, either. That kind of risk taking deserves the extreme reward when it occurs, not this situation.
And as for the system being broken; I didn't claim that it was, however, I think short-term planning only (quarterly driven) will contribute to it's crippling in the long run. Greed can be a wonderful motivator and a terrible wrecker. There is a balance to be pursued. Period.