Here's to outrageous exec pay!!

Just don't tell our old friend Barry Diller, who still manages to make life interesting for us know-nothing, low-wage scribes. In a chat with the FT, Diller says executive compensation is "no big deal" for shareholders - "a very tiny slice" of companies' overall expenses. (Which of course is true but not quite the point.) He blamed journalists for fanning the flames, even calling their reportage "close to criminal." Hmmmm. Last I checked, stealing is criminal, committing fraud is criminal, perjury is criminal. Reporting how much a CEO of a public company makes - in Diller's case, $220 million over the last five years - would seem to be telling people something they might not have known and might be interested in learning about. I guess I must have missed the memo that rejiggered everything.

Mr. Diller came to the defence of Robert Nardelli, the former Home Depot chief executive, who was lambasted by shareholders after he left the company and got a $210 million severance package in spite of its poor performance. “Bob Nardelli is no friend of mine. But Bob Nardelli signed a contract,” Mr Diller said. “They stole him away from other companies to come work for Home Depot at the time when he was a superstar.”

He says that CEOs and their boards have become very skittish and that somehow it's taking away "our competitive edge." He's kidding, right?