Stock options - the divide between haves and nots?

A topic that is rearing its ugly head again in the business world is the abuse of stock options, especially among CEOs and executives at many companies.
For those not familiar, stock options give an individual the option of buying a stock at a set price. In corporate America, options given to employees and executives have a date of issue and a strike price, typically set below the current trading price of the company stock. The higher a company's stock price goes, the greater difference between the option price and more worth the option holder has tied in these options.
Corporate America, not satisfied with the ability to essentially print money by issuing stock options, has played further games by back dating the issue of options to allow greater generation of wealth at the expense of "outsider" common shareholders.
It is time we as a nation needs to address the ills of stock options as a vehicle for obsene wealth and corruption in this era. Look at some of the wealthiest Americans - Bill Gates, Paul Allen, Larry Ellison, and one sees wealth created primarily by stock options. These vehicles to obsene wealth have divided the country into those with options and those without. Take a look at regions of the country with business that dole out options lavishly on their employees - Silicon Valley in particular, and one sees the extreme descrepancies in wealth and an arms race in real estate prices.
The greatest problem with stock options is that they induce a short sided view of company. An insider's wealth is tied to small short-term rises in a stock's price. A massive fall in a stock price leads to these options "going under" and becoming worthless, thus creating an incentive to quickly cash out of these options exists as well. Executives at companies these days have so much potential wealth tied into stock options that the long term growth and success of a company becomes secondary to keeping a stock price elevated long enough to cash out options and diversify one's money.
Also, in an effort to game the system, many companies adjust the date of issue of options to allow even greater wealth from the stock options game. Huge companies like Apple face de-listing from NASDAQ as a consequence of joining in this options back-dating game.
What I propose is to do away with the nefrarious game of stock options together. Stop this corporate minting press and start compensating people in salary and bonuses tied to corporate revenues. Sure, we won't see new Gates or Ellisons created with such a system, but we would see more focus by executives on a company's long term growth rather than short term stock price flucuations.