If he’s only able to afford tiny cups of his own company’s coffee, then the answer would have to be “no.”Last year Howard Schultz helped save Starbucks $580 million. For this he was handsomely rewarded, receiving a total of $12.1 million that included a $1 million bonus.In any age — but especially in an age of government bailouts — CEO compensation is a heavily scrutinized topic. So with that in mind, The Big Money’s Dan Mitchell set off to answer the question, “Is Schultz overpaid?”His conclusion: it depends on how you frame the question.Schultz’s salary was three times the amount of the average restaurant industry CEO. But it was also slightly less than the head honcho’s at McDonald’s.Schultz’s “saved” Starbucks money in part by closing stores and laying off employees. A fact which, naturally, angered a lot of ex-baristas and customers who vented their frustration at the Starbucks Gossip blog.But as Mitchell points out, to say only that Schultz earned his paycheck because he was willing to hand out pink slips is glib, because it “leaves out any speculation as to what might have happened if Schultz had simply allowed the company to keep heading down the crapper.”Of course, Mitchell is on a fool’s errand. Because as he points out, the answer to whether or not Schultz makes too much money is almost entirely dependent on context.Are you one of the cashier’s forced into the unemployment line by his decisions? Then you’ll probably say “yes.” Are you a fellow CEO? You’ll probably say “no.”As always with anything Schultz-related, we’ll reserve judgment until we hear from Sherman Alexie.