other people.

But as I wrote, that was until this week.  Because now, I have a new favourite.   In Secrets of Your Boss's Pay, ex Greggs CEO, Sir Michael Darrington, made very calm war against greedy bosses, who unlike the way he believes he behaved in his former role, aren't engaged in capitalism as much as carving out money from other people.  Darrington made a very powerful case for this needing to be reformed although actually the best case was made by James Caan's self centred challenge to these arguments.
But supposing we do believe that Caan would support pay restraint if it was possible in the face of global competition, we also have to answer his question about how this can be done?
And for me this is quite simple.  Businesses need to find CEOs who care about more than just how much they get paid, and then they don't always need to be offered pay in the top quartile.  After all, if money is all they're concerned about, they're not likely to be a very effective CEO.  Even if they do still care about the customers and employees (and caring about them because this is the way they can maximise their rewards isn't quite the same thing) - which is unlikely - they're not going to find their employees care about them.
Even if employees do engage in George Osbourne's latest wheeze, they're not going to feel compelled to support someone who has often over one hundred times as much to gain as them.
If you're not convinced, take a look at the vitriol in the comments on Channel 4's page about the programme.  Or take a look at the comments on the Economist's recent attempt to justify the pay of CEOs.  These aren't a deranged small minority of the population, these are your employees.  As I commented on the Economist's article: