“Bob now has $11. Bill has $22. An eleven dollar difference. The rich get richer.”
That’s a fun game to play. But the reality is, executive pay, the top 10%, went up to 350 times that of the average worker in 2005. That’s up from 122 times in 1990 and 74 times in 1950.
I know the freeper line is, if that’s what they want, that’s ok, they’re running things.
Yep, and that’s one of the reasons we have a creep like Obama as President.
And it will happen again, if some level of restraint isn’t in play.
When things get top-heavy they fall down unless they are propped up.
Just to be clear: if Bill's initial worth is exactly the same as Bob's at the start ($10 each), and Bob pays Bill $0.50 annually, over 55 years Bill's pay increases annually over Bob's from negligible to 22x.
I know the freeper line is, if that’s what they want, that’s ok, they’re running things.
It's basic economics. When person A pays person B even a little bit annually, and their wealth grows by the same percentage annually, B will make more than A each year - over time, a LOT more.
Economic fact: the rich get richer. Doesn't mean the poor get poorer, just that the gap grows ever wider. (Remember: today's "poor" have food, heat, AC, cable, etc; our "poverty line" is 20x the world median income.)
The executive fat cats have created a clique of elites that can do no wrong. With their excessive pay and perks, they steal money rightfully belonging to the stockholders, but stockholders have little say about it because most corporate rules favor the board of directors in voting. The worst that can happen to the CEOs is they get fired, collect their multi-million dollar severance package and get rehired into another plush CEO position in another firm. Upward mobility for others? Not unless you're a member of the club!
I'm completely in favor of maximum pay for executives; not as an absolute dollar figure, but as a percentage of what the individual firm’s lowest paid employees are paid. I also think eliminating the minimum wage in favor of the same system is a good idea. That way both beginning wages and executive wages are based on the conditions within an individual firm, and the stockholders can once again reap the rewards of their investments.
Some of you might say I'm envious of the rich; I'm not. I'm very comfortable. However, it really p!sses me off when I hear about CEOs getting multi-million dollar bonuses the same year they lay off tens of thousands of employees. Their arrogant elitism was no better exemplified than last year when those receiving taxpayer bailouts gave themselves bonuses and threw parties at resorts!