As promised, the beginning of an extensive look at the Institute for Policy Studies and United for a Fair Economy's 15th annual CEO Compensation Survey, this year titled "Executive Excess 2008: How Average Taxpayers Subsidize Runaway Pay."

Key Findings

CEO-WORKER DIVIDE: S&P 500 CEOs last year averaged $10.5 million, 344 times the pay of typical American workers. Last year, the top 50 hedge and private equity fund managers averaged $588 million each, more than 19,000 times as much as typical U.S. workers earned.

TAXPAYER SUBSIDIES FOR EXECUTIVE PAY: Average U.S. taxpayers subsidize excessive executive compensation — by more than $20 billion per year — via a variety of tax and accounting loopholes.

INDIRECT TAXPAYER SUPPORT FOR RUNAWAY PAY: More than 85 percent of the public companies on the federal government’s top 100 contractors list paid their CEOs over 100 times the pay of average U.S. workers.

REFORM ROADBLOCKS: Legislation that would plug executive-friendly tax loopholes is already pending in Congress. But this legislation has stalled — and will likely remain stalled unless the November 2008 elections change current Congressional voting dynamics.