One-quarter of the 100 highest-paid US CEOs' compensation last year surpassed the federal income tax paid by their companies.

Given America's staggering national debt, that statistic — from a new report by the Institute for Policy Studies — has touched off a firestorm led by Democratic Representative Elijah Cummings, ranking member of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, who called for hearings on executive compensation.

The IPS report on executive pay found the 2010 average compensation for those 25 execs was $16.7 million. Brands topping the list include: 

* eBay, whose CEO John Donahoe made $12.4 million, but which reported a $131 million refund on its 2010 current U.S. taxes.

* Boeing, which paid CEO Jim McNerney $13.8 million, sent in $13 million in federal income taxes, and spent $20.8 million on lobbying and campaign spending.

* GE, where CEO Jeff Immelt earned $15.2 million in 2010, while the company got a $3.3 billion federal refund and invested $41.8 million in its own lobbying and political campaigns.

According to Reuters, Cummings has asked the committee "to examine the extent to which the problems in CEO compensation [have] led to the economic crisis,” and "why CEO pay and corporate profits are skyrocketing while worker pay stagnates and unemployment remains unacceptably high."Continue reading...

You let it take your money for years and years and years, and sometimes you feel like you're winning, but in the end it only wants your money.