Yes, the elites were definitely interested in keeping the riff-raff out, which is why only landowners could vote for a number of year in the US. If I am not mistaken, Washington sacrificed a lot of income in the years he was fighting the Revolution, so I think he deserved some make-up salary. Regarding Observation 1, I am sure the unpaid lords and lackeys got lots of benefits from being in office. I imagine the Romans did too and back and back.
The living wage was not a casulty of the Obama administration. The poverty level has increased steadily since the Bush administration began. Furthermore, whereas 35 years ago, top CEOs earned about 40 times the salary of their low level workers. In recent years that ratio had grown to 400 to 1 and as high as 1,000 to 1. In 08 for example, the top 3 executives of Goldman Sachs each earned over $65 million. I have some GE stock which has tanked from the $50 a share it was worth less than a decade ago. It went down to $5 a share last year and has now crept up to $19. My proxy vote information gave the compensation of the top 7 executives which has ranged from $11 million to $22 million in 07, 08, and 09. There was no reduction in salary when the stock was doing so badly and is still not doing well. Compared to this $400,000 is chicken feed.
“1. In 08 for example, the top 3 executives of Goldman Sachs each earned over $65 million. I have some GE stock which has tanked from the $50 a share it was worth less than a decade ago. It went down to $5 a share last year and has now crept up to $19. My proxy vote information gave the compensation of the top 7 executives which has ranged from $11 million to $22 million in 07, 08, and 09. There was no reduction in salary when the stock was doing so badly and is still not doing well. Compared to this $400,000 is chicken feed.”
This is why these companies should not have been bailed out. Markets deal with excess the same way too much of a good thing deals in nearly every other instance, and letting it naturally correct is the only way to flush out imbalances. A company cannot long last in a competitive environment that screws over its employees while handing the lion’s share to those at the top, especially when they are incompetent. It’s kind of like vomiting after having too much booze.
The only way any of them survive that way is with the blessing of politics, corruption. It is not a Bush anomaly, it’s an age old problem. Remember the robber barons? It comes with political meddeling and the govt picking winners and losers. Free market justice is the real justice, anything else is just a distraction.