Reply #31: it has nothing to do with the job description

[Clovis Sangrail]

pit·tance –noun
1. a small amount or share.
2. a small allowance or sum, as of money for living expenses.
3. a scanty income or remuneration..

Regardless of if you think $400,000/year is too little or too much for the job, it is NOT a pittance.

As for qualified candidates.. we do have a dearth of those.
However, the idea that the people that become presidents could have gone elsewhere and made huge salaries is a myth.
With few exceptions the people we get even as candidates aren't "captains of industry" or capable of being such.
Their only path to those sort of nosebleed incomes is through politics.

They're generally lawyers who are more or less civic minded and found they are particularly good at public relations.