[citation][nom]nirvanabah[/nom]I don't understand why you'd expect Execs to take a pay cut. They earned their position and one would assume if they were to cut anyone's pay it would be the employees they let go (rather than firing them outright). If the Execs were as expendable as the 5,000 employees they're cutting, they'd simply fire them too don't you think?[/citation]
When your exec sits on your board of directors, he basically gets to vote on his own pay raises. When was the last time your boss said "propose a new salary for yourself and I'll take a vote amongst your peers"? Its the same with politicians. Congress votes themselves payraises all the time. Rather than fire thousands of employees, or milk tax-paying citizens for more money, they could reduce the problem by eliminating a few million of their own individual (or collective) salaries, yet they don't.
Hell, I just recently took a 5% paycut myself, but my manager didn't (no, I don't work at MS). Hope they like that few hundred bucks a month they're getting back (maybe they'll spend it on more managerial "training" retreats), but someone like Steve Balmer taking a 5% paycut would open up millions, and save hundreds of jobs.