Is the next CEO who oversees 2 mid-size community hospitals going to be paid 4X what the POTUS gets? Executive pay and housing costs are both way overblown IMO.

While I agree that executive salaries in the USA justify rethinking, I will point out that POTUS receives many benefits paid for by taxpayers that aren't part of his salary.

Let's start with some basics:
- Lodging during employment with housekeeping staff, including private chef, utilities included
- Transportation during employment: limousine service as well as personalized aircraft (Air Force One and Marine One), even for vacation travel
- Security guard detail: FOR LIFE

My guess is that for the remainder of his life, he and his wife will receive medical care from hospitals that are operated by the US armed forces (e.g., Bethesda).

I bet POTUS does not pay for his dry cleaning; for sure, he doesn't sit in a laundromat or stand in line at Safeway. He probably does not pay for postal stamps. Or new tires for the presidential motorcade. He does not pay for parking, bridge tolls, gas. There are probably a few more.

POTUS receives quite a bit more than a salary.

Just to let you know...

Here is my problem. I am a nurse at El Camino Hospital and have worked for them for nearly 10 years. The nurses union have been in negotiations with ECH for a new contract. The new contract is a slap in the face to the nurses that bust their butts every single day. Working night shift has a severe impact on a person's health, both physical and emotional. People who work night shift spend less time sleeping, have poorer sleep because they are trying to sleep when it is daylight out and the body's natural rhythms become disrupted. The immune system starts to break down. People who work night shift suffers more depression, weight gain, hormonal imbalances, and sleep disorders. The new contract takes away a percentage of the differential paid to night shift employees as well as incentive to work extra shifts which will prove to be huge. We are always short staffed and patient care suffers because of it. There are longer wait times for the ER, patients end up staying longer in the ER because there are no beds available on the inpatient floors to accommodate them. In reality it is not a bed problem, it is a nurse problem. When a CEO who is leaving receives nearly a quarter of a million dollars as she exits, and the new CEO makes nearly a million dollars a year in salary plus bonuses, it is a tremendous slap in the face from the hospital to tell its staff members that they value an exiting CEO more than they do the people that have invested 5, 10, 20 plus years to the company. We get an email from the CEO each week, titled her Friday Message. This past Friday the message was the hospital is ahead of budget and making money, yet they feel justified in taking away compensation to the nurses that are the backbone of the institution. They are building a new multi-million dollar campus in the south bay as well. It is a shame and as for the public, they should expect much longer wait times, poorer service, and disgruntled staff to go along with the large number of nurses that will be leaving El Camino over the treatment. If you want to read the old contract versus some of the new contract propositions, go to the website prnatech.org. As a community, patients, patrons, and donors you have a right to know just how devious ECH is.

Jane- No one makes you work night shifts its part of the career choices we all make. Last time I checked CEOs make more than your avg worker, look around the valley see any disparity between CEO and avg employee comp? If you don't like the work environment leave and find a new place of employment like the rest of us.

Blane, thanks for your support, hopefully you won't ever have to be a patient, not only at Elcamino but any hospital and be away from your family at night, on weekends, holidays. The wonderful souls that take care of patients at night are there when your family is not, the nurses are there to care for you, ensure you are getting the right care you need and require for your illness when the real world is sleeping at home, that would include not only your family but your doctor as well. Night nurses are a special kind of nurse, we care for our families during the day, then we care for YOUR family at night. Be respectful of your night nurse. I have been a night nurse for over 25 years at Elcamino. I used to be proud to work there, there was a mutual respect amongst administration and nurses, now there is none!! The nurses work hard, long hours, weekends, holidays, evenings and night shift, we demand respect for what we do... We Care!! Yes I chose to work night shift, yes I chose to care for the sick and if I were or any of my co workers your nurse, you would be so lucky to have us as your advocate!! Go to another hospital and see what kind of care you will get, I promise it won't be anything like being cared for by an Elcamino nurse!! We deserve Respect for what we do and we deserve the pay for what we do. Elcamino you make a lot of money for being a non profit hospital, it's time to give back to those that have given you not only Magnent status but to the nurses who have made Elcamino what it is today.. A caring hospital, don't change our image. Stop taking away from the nurses, we deserve BETTER.