Among L.A.'s 1% (or thereabouts): Port pilots

Bloomberg's Chris Palmeri goes after an oldie-but-goodie: The crazy-high salaries ($323,000 on average last year) among 15 port pilots at the Port of Los Angeles. They also get three-day weekends and 27 vacation days a year. These are public employees, but their wages are paid by shippers who use the harbor.

Pilot pay has come under fire from shipping groups who must pay fees for the service. The harbor guides make more than commercial airline pilots and air-traffic controllers and their "monopoly-like system" is a drain on the economy, according to a 2009 study commissioned by the Miami-based Florida Alliance of Maritime Organizations Inc., a shipping trade group.