Jeremy Grantham gets it right - up to a point

He agrees that Executive Compensation, especially for CEO's and other top officials, has gone way beyond what can be called reasonable. But the remedies he suggests do not go far enough. These new rules will be gamed as well and I fear the only real solution is a radical end to selective compensation schemes that are based on the wrong management theory that says that already well-paid executives need to be showered with incentives in order to do the best possible job.
In addition, as is the case with most lamentos about Executive Pay, there is no proposal about how change to the excesses we experience can be brought about.
It is my opinion that the main culprits are the top 30-50 investment institutions that do not take their fiduciary responsibilities seriously enough. They are basically living in a bubble and are completely cut off from the wishes of their end-investors (and I am not talking about allocators in Private Banks or Pension Fund Trustees but the main in the  street who is the ultimate paymaster of the Fund Managers and Corporate Executives.
 (29 July 2015)

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Jeremy Grantham at the Conference on Inclusive Capitalism

(Too) Close ties between Executive and Board

No surprise there! While this case may be at the extreme end of the spectrum the current selection process for board members is inherently problematic. The Insiders - board and executives - basically select their own supervisors while the real members of the company in most cases rubberstamp the elections. And even then they are (poorly) represented by their fiduciaries, i.e. the investment institutions that manage their savings. Activist shareholders offer no solution either as their motives are highly conflicted and basically greed rather then the best interest of all stakeholders provides the main incentive. A wholesale revision of company laws it the only way out of this dead end. And please spare us the argument that 'free markets' must not be hampered and remember that corporate entities have been created by legislation.
Dish Suit Shows Close Ties Between Executive and Board Members (NY Times)
 (12 July 2015)