The issue is not "high level of pay." That is very vague. Like I said to another poster on here - make an analogy to your home life.
You are the CEO of your house. Your spouse and your kids are your employees (don't you wish?) Anyway, you are having financial troubles so you tell the spouse and kids to cut back - no more brand-name food (generic only), no evenings dining out, no cable tv, no cell phones, cut up the credit cards, etc. but then a few months later you go out and buy yourself a 75K "insert fantasy sports car name here." That would be so wrong. Why can people see it on THIS level but not on the corporate level. It's like we don't want to admit that there IS a point where we have to just realize it's ridiculous. I'd be ashamed to be a billionaire and not give a lot away. I know Gates does a lot of philanthropic stuff but I can tell you from personal experience that I did some consulting work for a financial planner about 10 years ago. His clients were only the very wealthiest in the city in which I live. He even joked that he'd normally never do my financial plan since I was not at the level he wanted to work with (but he knew me). Anyway, I got to see these folks' net work, the tax returns, everything - doctors, lawyers, business owners - millions of dollars in income.... guess what I found out... they gave so little to charity it was scary - nothing to the church, the hungry, etc. My husband and I gave so much compared to these people and for us it was a sacrifice - for them it would mean one less pair of Manolo Blahnik shoes here and there.