Eventually the corporate structure expanded to assist in trade with the Colonies as long as their was no profit involved. Companies that did profit were clearly ultra vires but violations were rarely prosecuted. The Bubble Act of 1720 had an important provision protecting the public from misdeeds by companies. It stated that corporations "tending to the common grievance, prejudice and inconvenience of His Majesty"s subjects" would be void. The Bubble Act was repealed in 1825 and stock shares which were previously only allowed to be owned by persons "genuinely taking a role in running the Corporation." now could be traded freely. Not long after that the Joint Stock Companies Act of 1844 allowed corporations to form by simply registering. Ten years later an act passed limiting shareholder liability to the amount of the value of the share. Lastly, the Companies Act of 1989 gave the corporation the power to do " all such things as incidental or conducive to carry on any trade or business."# The general slackening of control over corporations in the history of their development has led us to the point where they are ultra-powerful and beyond simple reproach by citizen or government. Nothing better exemplifies this fact than the monstrous salaries paid to those at the top of the corporate ladder. .
The average CEO is rewarded with a whopping $15.5 million in total compensation.# "The average CEO made 42 times the average worker's pay in 1980, 85 times in 1990 and a staggering 531 times in 2000."# Two very disturbing aspects of these statistics are: First, the amount of money paid to executives, especially when viewed in a perspective of fairness i.e. the division of wealth, and second the incongruity between the executive salaries and the overall health of their corporations. To further illustrate the first point look at the salary of the CEO Mr. Sanford Weill during his term at Traveler Insurance Company.
