I have had my problem with Starbucks (SBUX) CEO Howard "Schultzie" Schultz in the past, but his latest little stunt has really ticked me off.

First things first, I will enjoy the occasional cup of Starbucks coffee, but the price has put a venti mocha-frappa-latte-chino out of my budget so I have started making my own at home. The company's product is good, but its competitors -- namely McDonald's (MCD) and Dunkin' Donuts -- offer a comparable product at a fraction of the price. I have long thought that Starbucks' saturation business model has been its biggest fault, with Schultzie's leadership running a close second.

The latest study that Challenger, Gray & Christmas revealed to BloggingStocks reports that October was the eighth month this year in which CEO turnover was down year-over-year. Through the end of last month, 1,028 CEO positions changed hands -- down 18% from the 1,257 by the same point in 2008. In fact, the tally for the first 10 months of 2009 is the lowest since 2004, when the big office found only 561 new inhabitants.

The financial industry remains the toughest place for CEOs, with 19 leaving the job last month. Even though the situation has gotten easier, this industry still has the highest turnover. For the year, approximately 10% of all CEO departures (106) have been in the financial sector. "The financial industry is still incredibly volatile, as both October and September saw major announcements from leading companies including JP Morgan Chase (JPM), Bank of America (BAC) and last month's bankruptcy of CIT Group, which led to the exit of CEO Jeffrey Peek," John A. Challenger, chief executive officer of Challenger, Gray & Christmas, says.

It's easy to save the world when you've already taken care of yourself. But, we rely on these mavericks -- the wealthy who realize they can make a difference -- to do what we cannot on our own. So, it comes as a relief that Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft (MSFT) believes executive compensation is still too high.

It's a murky topic, and some forms of regulation, Gates believes, won't help. In a discussion on philanthropy at the 92nd Street Y in Manhattan, where many of the people Gates criticized send their kids for early education, the former CEO and still rich guy cites the $1 million executive salary cap required by law in 1993 as a big mistake. While compensation has to be controlled, he believes this measure backfired and thinks that other, similar efforts are doomed to fail now.

The five most senior General Motors (NYSE: GRM) executives, along with the 20 next highest-paid employees, are going to see their cash compensation fall $3.9 million (31%) on a year-over-year basis.

The decision was made by the "independent master" that was appointed to set pay and stock levels for those in charge of companies that have received a majority of the funding from the federal government. GM is not on its own, as top execs at GMAC (the company's financing arm) and Chrysler will see their compensation cut as well.

The Wall Street Journal reports (subscription required) that "Administration officials on Sunday criticized Wall Street banks over their high compensation packages and their lobbying against plans to tighten financial regulations. But the administration's tone appeared muted compared with attacks made earlier in this year, as Democrats -- with an eye toward the 2010 midterm elections -- seek to put a positive spin on recent economic developments."

It's easy to understand why the Democrats are toning down the rhetoric: They passed an unprecedented corporate welfare package, and pledged to clamp down on compensation practices that encourage excessive risk. Then Obama appointed an executive pay czar who doesn't have any real power and, aside from begging Ken Lewis to toss back a few scraps to create the illusion of a crackdown, the Democrats have done literally nothing to curb compensation practices at firms that are existing on the taxpayer dime.

Who is ready for their morning dose of anger? That is what I thought this morning when I found out about the higher pay at some investment banks following the recent bailouts. Well, let me qualify that -- it isn't necessarily higher pay, but some execs will receive the same amount as they did before the bailouts. Some Wall Street firms, enjoying improving profits are on track to "pay employees as much as, or even more than, it did in the pre-crisis days." The top six U.S. banks have set aside $74 billion to pay employees, up from $60 billion last year, according to the Washington Post.

Over the past five years, shares of what is now Sirius XM Satellite Radio (NASDAQ: SIRI) have declined from a high of $9 per share to their current price of less than 50 cents per share. Granted, most of that hasn't been CEO Mel Karmazin's fault, and he was able to stave off bankruptcy by engineering an 11th-hour loan from Liberty Media.

But still, is that really a track record that entitles the CEO to a raise? Mr. Karmazin's salary went from $1.25 million to $1.5 million, but that isn't even the worst part. The Wall Street Journal (subscription required) reports that "He also gets options to purchase 120 million shares, which he can exercise at 43 cents a share."

On Monday, the stock market rose 498 points -- a move that many attributed to the announcement over the weekend of a plan to buy $1 trillion in toxic waste that uses government loans to lure investors -- such as hedge funds -- into buying extremely risky securities.

That sounds like the same thing that got us into the financial crisis in the first place. It also sounds like the sort of thing that hedge funds do for a living -- and those hedge funds are making a handful of skilled people into billionaires.