One consequence of high salaries in business is that smart, aggressive people are drawn into the corporate world, rather than into government or education, thus further consolidating the power of corporations. Directors of corporations have never provided an effective check on the behavior of management. Directors are selected by management, paid by management, and informed by management. Generally speaking, boards of directors are captives of management. They provide little or no accountability.
Corporations now dominate our political life.
So every politician who gets elected is beholden to corporate interests from day one. Corporate crime is rampant. And of course those statistics merely describe the ones who got caught. It has to be because, at some level, they find that the benefits outweigh the costs. Corporate greed and abuse of power seem to have worsened during the 1980s, but it has been obvious to some people for a long time that corporations exert an unhealthy influence over many aspects of American society.