All over the world, politicians are starting to pick up on it. Ordinary people are becoming increasingly agitated over the way the bosses are getting what's seen as more than their fair share of the rewards of the global economic boom. And the politicians are buying in.

In Britain last week, the Secretary for Northern Ireland Peter Hain - a contender for the deputy prime ministership - attacked the huge bonuses being paid out in London and warned that if business didn't do something about "the most obscene excesses", he would bring in laws to fix it.

Average CEO compensation in Britain is ranked fourth in the world and the amount of money sloshing around for London bankers, brokers and traders has been nothing short of staggering, something I examined here when I looked at the issue of the "haves and the have-yachts".

Meanwhile in the US, with political moves underway to give shareholders a greater say on executive pay, presidential candidate hillary clinton has declared that she will open up CEO to pay greater scrutiny, while reducing special deals for corporations and eliminating tax breaks for companies that ship jobs offshore. All part of what she describes as "opportunity for all and special privileges for none."

Why is this happening? Because politicians know that the pay gap between CEOs and ordinary wage and income earners trying to pay school fees, mortgages and bills is an electoral issue. And politicians know an issue for political gain when they see one.

The unequal terrain is examined by Barbara Ehrenreich here and I examine the political implications in my piece here.