The good: CFOs think the economy is on an upswing. The bad: They also believe the Japan disaster will impact the US. The ugly: More of them than before plan to raise prices. The uglier:  Even as CEO pay soars, most other employees can't expect the same for their compensation.

That's according to a biannual survey of CFOs conducted by Grant Thornton. It questioned 318 CFOs and senior comptrollers, 59 of whom were from the Northeast.

So much for Say on Pay being a game changer.

As I have been asserting for over a year, the advisory vote over whether to approve a company's executive compensation table has become something of a dud.

More moves in the say on pay arena. Looks like the AFL-CIO is making a big push, trying to motivate shareholders to take part in votes on executive compensation this season.

The ultimate goal, of course, is to voice discontent over executive pay. And in fact, as more and more proxies reveal evidence of significant increases in CEO comp, this year is shaping up to be a good one for using say on pay to curtail C-suite pay.