US CEO salaries defy economic trend

As the American economy slowed to a crawl and stockholders watched their money evaporate, CEO pay chugged to yet more dizzying heights last year, an Associated Press analysis shows.

The AP review of compensation for the heads of companies in the Standard & Poor's 500 index finds the median pay package added up to nearly $8.4 million. That's a comfortable gain of about $280,000 from 2006.

The 3.5 percent pay increase for CEOs came even as the landscape for workers and shareholders darkened considerably and the economy was choked by a housing market in free fall, layoffs and soaring prices for fuel and food.