Lying on your resume

Everybody says from the recruiters to the expert advisers on job interviewing that it is a big "NO" to lie on your resume and still people do it now and then. Recently a case of a big company top honcho was caught stretching (so to speak instead of lying) his credentials to include some in which he did not majoring in. Now the person in question is apologizing about it and the company is saying that he has a lot of experience and mistake on the resume should not be taken. So now the question is that if that is the case, why do all the companies want to know what education level you have achieved because once a person has enough experience all the education would not help him/her in the real world. And why it is that the top honcho is can escape unpunished in this whole scandal and not the ordinary person who tries to be a little creative in his resume. Why is one standard for a top person and another for all other ordinary folk who are trying to get a job by being truthful on their resumes. If the companies want experience then education should become irrelevant and if the education is necessary then experience should be minimized and a little due diligence on the part of the companies to make absolutely sure that the person they are hiring has a truthful resume would go a long way to avoiding Public Relations disasters.