In case you missed it, the Wall Street Journal published their annual review on executive pay. While we go without jobs, their bonuses and compensation just went through the stratosphere.

In 2010, total compensation and benefits at publicly traded Wall Street banks and securities firms hit a record of $135 billion, according to an analysis by The Wall Street Journal. The total is up 5.7% from $128 billion in combined compensation and benefits by the same companies in 2009.

It seems Wall Street is hip to public outrage over executive pay....so they are deferring it more. Can't hide the ass of an elephant behind a lamp folks.

Banks and securities firms are deferring a larger percentage of compensation than they used to, trying to counter criticism that yearly cash bonuses encourage unwise risk-taking by executives, traders and other employees aiming for a big payday.

This is an all time high, $135 billion. You could buy a country with that, oh yeah, they already did.

Earlier we overviewed a damning report on executive compensation, pay dirt. Take your blood pressure medication before reading.

The AFL-CIO keeps an executive paywatch database, although it doesn't look like they have too many 2010 numbers. Here's a list of the top 100 highest paid CEOs. Notice how it doesn't correspond to corporations hiring Americans or adding to the real economy in many cases.