American bosses continue to rake it in, with their average annual cash bonuses going up by close to half and total cash compensation up by about one-third, according to research released by the Economic Research Institute and the Wall Street Journal's CareerJournal.com .

Average annual cash bonuses increased 48.2 per cent, which meant one thing: base pay might have decreased slightly but the higher bonuses resulted in an average total cash compensation per executive of $4,795,096 (a 31.2 per cent increase over 2005).

This level of high growth is just ridiculous! The largesse heaped upon executives is growing at a faster pace than shareholder returns. And it's certainly out of whack with the kind of pay growth the rest of the population is getting.

No surprises then that shareholders are angry and plan to put the heat on companies at annual meetings next year. So far, shareholders have submitted 170 pay proposals to U.S. public companies when there were 140 resolutions on executive compensation in the last proxy season, reports Dow Jones.

One proposal is for provisions that would allow shareholders to express their disapproval for a pay deal through a non-binding vote. It's a practice already done in Australia and Britain.

While non-binding votes have some merit, they're unlikely in themselves to stop the gravy train.

In Australia, for instance, shareholders are furious about the cushy pay deal at Telstra, the Australian biggest telco which has been listed on the NYSE since 1997. This week, the Government was forced to come to the rescue by endorsing the remuneration report. Without the Australian government using its majority stake in Telstra, shareholders would given the report thumbs down. And that was a non-binding vote.

Telstra has enormous issues with disclosure. Secret pay arrangements at Telstra allow its board to invoke a clause under which performance rights would vest upon a single investor buying 15 per cent of the company, reports the Sydney Morning Herald.

Also infuriating shareholders is the fact that Telstra's most senior executives were handed their biggest short-term incentives in six years, despite the company's weaker financial performance. In 2005-6 Telstra's earnings before interest and tax, depreciation and amortisation fell by 8.4 per cent and net profit by 26.2 per cent. Its shares fell by 27 per cent. But that didn't stop short-term executive incentives being paid 100 per cent in cash instead of half cash, half shares.