It's good to know I'm not alone in my assertion that U.S. CEOs are excessively overpaid. Most CEOs think the same thing.

In a new study by the National Association of Corporate Directors, researchers surveyed U.S. corporate leaders, and about two-thirds of chief executives think "the compensation of top executives is high relative to their performance." Only 2.2% of the CEOs involved in the survey said compensation was too low, while a third said it is “just right.”

More from the Financial Times:

Their views were backed up by outside directors, with more than 80 per cent of them saying chief executives were overpaid.

Figures released last week showed the share of national income claimed by the wealthiest 1 per cent of Americans had reached 21.2 per cent – a postwar record – partly because of booming company profits.

Mr Bush last week told The Wall Street Journal that he thought some executive compensation was excessive and that some boards needed to improve their oversight of this.

The directors polled blamed excessive executive pay on the absence of objective ways to measure executive performance, as well as the use of options and equity awards that "reward executives when the company’s share price goes up, rather than when its operations improve."

This question wasn't asked in the survey, but I'm willing to bet few of the CEOs polled would be willing to voluntarily take a pay cut, even though they think their peers are overpaid. The problem isn't going to fix itself. The government can offer a partial solution by eliminating tax incentives that actually encourage companies to offer CEOs bloated pay and write it off as a business expense.

But the government can't, and shouldn't, completely fix the problem. Shareholders can also play a role by demanding more accountability and oversight. As partial owners, shareholders have a right to know if CEOs are earning their pay, and by continuing to invest in companies without transparent compensation systems, shareholders are sending market signals that this sort of excess is permissible.