"Obscene", "bizarre", "a scourge": Europe's politicians are in no doubt that bosses' high pay is a scandal. If they are right, the continent's companies are in grave danger. Executive pay is not only a measure of what society judges as fair; it is also a test of whether a business is run for its shareholders. If a board can motivate managers, it will get the best out of them. If it cannot stand up to the chief executive and his cronies over their pay, then it will struggle to control them when they want to buy this dud rival or diversify into that dead-end business.rnBut are the politicians right? They have caught the mood in equality-conscious Europe, where the millions earned by some are stirring up resentment. Politicians in the Netherlands, France and Germany are squaring up to bosses over pay (see page 81). America is joining in. John McCain, the presumed Republican presidential nominee, this week complained that failed senior managers at big firms are "packed off with $4om or $5om for the road".
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