Even if it were true, there would be no valid argument for $1M/year vs $60M/year differentials.
In startups, folks are doing this for programmer-level salaries.
CEOs are still finding time for some family time - maybe not a lot, but there are a lot of people under the grindstone feeling the exact same problems making low software developer and manager wages.
They should be paid accordingly. (Although I won't disagree with the fact that some CEOs are indeed overpaid.)
They were threatened with dismissal for not doing so. I was threatened with dismissal for not doing so.
I worked from early morning until early the next morning. I saved the core business on multiple occasions, my manager was working 14 hours a day 7 days a week at a minimum.
The CEO went home at 5pm every night, when I still had a full shift ahead of me, and had weekends off with his kids, when I was working at home. He was paid three times what I was paid, and 50% more than my boss.
You speak of ideology, not reality.
But I would like to believe that for every terrible CEO, there's one that actually gives his all in growing the business.
I speak of idealism and not reality, yeah. This doesn't invalidate what happened to you, which I agree is awful. But if someone is legitimately putting work into their company, as many CEOs do, they deserve to be paid.
The CEO's compensation isn't tied to how much work they do, but how little time they get to spend on anything else - mind, body, and soul.