Top 10 Pharma CEO salaries of 2009

Hello folks. My name is Capitalism, nice to meet you. Thought I'd introduce myself just in case you haven't heard of me. I've been the system behind the dynamics you are complaining about. It's not the CEOs' fault, it's not shareholders' fault, it's not employee's fault. Layoffs and cost cutting have been the reality of the business world for as long as I can remember, my friends. It's not all bad... it's how the United States have become a super-power after World War II, continuously raising productivity and generating innovation. Too bad for the people who don't help on either one of those two dimensions. If you're not helping your company increase productivity, you are effectively reducing its productivity. If you're not helping your company innovate and generate new revenues, you're just an incremental cost. And that's why your job is at risk.

Although what you say is accurate in principle, unfortunately the reality of things is that the practice you are talking about is also the downfall of the USA and the reason why it is struggling to remain as the superpower in this worldwide economy. Normally, as layoffs occur, new job opportunities arise either in peripheral or unrelated fields and folks are able to acquire employment which is either equal or better in remuneration than before they were laid off. This in turn allows them to be able to spend money, and that's what makes the wheels go round. Unfortunately, these days, when the layoffs come it usually to increase profit margins in a stagnant economy (i.e. folks can't really afford to buy anything), or avoid being dragged under due to slow sales and uncertain forecasts for upcoming pipeline of product. To add insult to injury, the work force that was laid off can't get back on a payroll because those jobs were sent off to countries where the labor is cheap. The end result is that folks here are left with no job, no money to buy anything, and poor prospects for getting back into the work force. The upside, is that if you are a top tier executive, you probably make great money as you are the one who is able to ensure the company's bottomline is constantly increasing. So the poor get poorer, and the rich get richer.
Even though there are always success stories, more and more it is getting increasingly harder and harder to come up with new concepts that you can build into an empire. Even if someone is able to do so, it's very likely that they either get bought out, or squeezed out.
Just as Communism in its pure form was doomed to fail, so is Capitalism. In either case, you end up with a work force that has very little incentive to work. With Communism, there is no reason to do anymore than you absolutely have to since you are not going to get more than your neighbor; in Capitalism, there is no reason to do anymore because no matter how much you work, your workload keeps on increasing, your free time keeps on decreasing, and your salary doesn't ever seem to meet inflation.