IT HAS BEEN SOME TIME since I sat opposite the CEO of a major oil company at a seminar in which I suggested that shareholders should know how much they are paying the CEO to run what is, after all, their company. He was more than a little annoyed. If everyone knew how much he earned, kidnappers would be tempted to snatch him in the hope of netting a large ransom. Besides, his friends on the compensation committee are responsible men, as he learned when he served on their boards.

My adversary will be unhappy that the Securities and Exchange Commission is proposing fuller disclosure of executive compensation, and asking companies to provide investors with one number that totals the three “Ps”–pay, perks, and pensions. SEC chairman Christopher Cox told the press, “Our purpose . . . is to help investors keep an eye on how much of their money is being paid to the top executives who work for them.” He might have added three other purposes.