Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman topped the USA Today list, with a combined $84.5 million in pay, between a $2.6 million salary, an $11.25 million bonus and a $70.5 million return on stock options in 2010. Hovering near the bottom were executives like Steve Jobs, John Mackey of Whole Foods and Vikram Pandit of Citigroup, whose symbolic $1 annual salaries belie massive net worths thanks to their holding stock in their respective companies. Though Jobs’ $8.3 billion and Mackey’s $1.8 billion dwarf Pandit’s net worth, estimated in the tens of millions, as of this year, Pandit will earn $1.75 million, exceeding what he was earning before the recession hit.

All told, the 175 CEOs that USA Today collected data on made a combined $1.84 billion, with a median annual pay of $8.8 million. This represents a 26 percent jump in annual pay from 2009; average private industry workers, on the other hand, saw pay raises of 2.1 percent over the same period.

Meanwhile, hedge fund managers are making money that makes CEO income look pitiful by comparison. The top 25 hedge fund managers in the U.S. made a combined $22 billion, bolstered by surging gold prices and a generally bullish market. This works out to an average of $883 million in 2010 income for those 25 managers, the third-highest in history.

Far and away the top earner among them was John Paulson of Paulson $ Co., who personally made $4.9 billion in 2010, largely in gold. Other hedge fund managers invested heavily in the emerging lawsuit market, lending millions to law firms heading up major class-action suits. Interest on the loans is passed on to the firm’s clients in additional fees, meaning that many plaintiffs who are victorious in class-action suits end up paying for the “privilege” of winning.

Even assuming Paulson works at the high-end of the industry standard for people working for hedge funds — say, 60 hours a week — his astronomical pay would break down to about $436 per second on the job. It would take him one minute and 48 seconds to earn the median yearly income for American men.

Despite their massive haul in 2010, hedge fund managers continue to exploit a controversial “carried interest” tax loophole that allows them to pay a maximum of 15 percent on the vast majority of their income, as opposed to the 35 percent that others in the top tax bracket are required to pay. Efforts (PDF) to close the loophole in the past have been unsuccessful.

In an Oct. 22 letter to committee Chairman Edward Markey (D-Mass.), Dudley said:

As I am sure you can imagine, I have an enormous amount of work to do transitioning into this role and am very focused on ensuring the right decisions are made for the future of the company and the safety of our workforce. Therefore, I regret that I must decline your invitation at this time, but I look forward to sharing our progress with you on these important changes once they have been further developed and implemented.

Markey criticized Dudley’s decision in a statement today:

If BP is truly committed to repairing their image and standing with the American people and government officials, Mr. Dudley can start by appearing before Congress.

Dudley made headlines today when he blamed the media and other “observers” for a “rush to judgment” about the impacts of the spill. “The public fear was everywhere,” he said.

The difference between salaries like mine and those of average Americans creates a lot of tension, and I’d like to offer a suggestion. President Obama should celebrate our success, rather than trying to shame us or cap our pay. But he should also take half of our huge earnings in taxes, instead of the current one-third.

Then, the next time a chief executive earns an eye-popping amount of money, we can cheer that half of it is going to pay for our soldiers, schools and security. Higher taxes on huge pay days can finance opportunity for the next generation of Americans.

Hastings makes the point that other attempts to cap CEO compensation haven’t worked out. His idea isn’t as crazy as it sounds. But I wouldn’t expect other CEOs to line up in support anytime soon. No matter how bad the economy may get, top executives — like most people — aren’t going to enthusiastically embrace paying more taxes. Just ask Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, or maybe former Health and Human Services Secretary-nominee Tom Daschle.

They’re actually thinking of curbing some of those rewards, The Wall Street Journal reports today.

From the Journal:

“To the guy in Kansas making 60 grand a year and losing his house, it seems like madness to bail out firms at a favorable interest rate and see them have thousands of people making millions of dollars a year — and it is madness,” said Alan Johnson, a New York compensation consultant.

So Wall Street may take a few steps to stop the madness. But let’s call them what they are — baby steps. The idea is to make sure bonuses for chief executive officers decline sharply. But lower-level traders and investment bankers, who could be plucked away by other firms, still will see generous bonuses.

I assume that means even if those employees played a big role in the fostering the subprime housing bubble, they’ll still get bonuses, because other firms would want their obviously invaluable services.

The Journal notes that Wall Street isn’t really going to give up without a fight:

The wide-ranging pay talks follow demands for information about compensation plans. Some firms have considered hiring one outside law firm to represent the nine companies on the Treasury Department’s initial list of capital recipients in their response to this week’s demands by New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo. Top traders, who can out-earn CEOs in a good year, are concerned about possible disclosure of their names and pay.

There’s a lesson in here somewhere. I’m just not sure exactly what it is.