Does the Big Boss make a lot more than you do?
@JamesHxstatic (29242)
Eugene, Oregon
December 10, 2016 10:58am CST
I don't mean your supervisor or even the manager of the plant, office or other business enterprise where you work. I mean the CEO, the Grand Poobah, the Prez of the company.
Well, according to an article written by Gretchen Morgenson in the NY Times, in 1965, that Boss made about 20 times the average salary of other employees. By 2013, that Boss made about 300 times the salary of an average Joe or Josephine.
The city of Portland, here in my state of Oregon, is taking a step to punish any of the 550 businesses that pay a significant business tax in that city. Companies who pay the Big Man or Woman more than "250 times the median" income of other employees, will have to pay a 25% surcharge on those taxes. (Personally, I would make it 100 or 150 times the median)
So Portland becomes the first city in the US to address income inequality in even a small way. As the outgoing mayor, said, "It's a start."
Is any CEO's work worth 300 times what the average worker makes? It seems to be that way in the USA.
17 people like this
18 responses
@crazyhorseladycx (39515)
• United States
10 Dec 16
kudo's to yer city! those big-wigs get by with that sorta thingy whilst they no doubt pay'n important role, they truly don't rank the salary/perks they get whilst many'f their employees 're strugglin' jest to keep a roof o'er their heads'n food'n their bellies.
3 people like this
@crazyhorseladycx (39515)
• United States
11 Dec 16
@JamesHxstatic i fear i aint kept'p with what that fella's been 'p to, 've too many other thingies'n my plate. perhaps i need to do some investigatin', eh?
1 person likes this
@JamesHxstatic (29242)
• Eugene, Oregon
12 Dec 16
@crazyhorseladycx Well, like I say, some make 300 times the hourly pay of their employees, so it is a lot.
1 person likes this
@JamesHxstatic (29242)
• Eugene, Oregon
11 Dec 16
I agree. Greed in the upper 5% is ruining democracy and Trump will make it far worse with his cabinet appointments.
2 people like this
@moffittjc (118452)
• Gainesville, Florida
10 Dec 16
No CEO should be paid 250-300 times what their average worker makes. Maybe another novel approach to try that focuses on the positive instead of the negative is to offer companies tax incentives to increase worker salaries to certain thresholds. The only flip side to increasing worker salaries is that it will then create upward inflationary pressure on goods and services.
2 people like this
@Bluedoll (16774)
• Canada
11 Dec 16
If we look back at history we see a time period 19th century, the industrial revolution and rise of the middle class where the sum of individual successes led to the success of the society as a whole.
Before that time land barons controlled the wealth but it didn't mean the commoner did not have a good life with the exception of hard times or cruel barons.
We know the rich want profitable investment to make even more money as strange as that might seem they still need markets. That is all they care about not the actually people?
Where the money should go is another question and somehow to trust only a selected few of the wealthy to create a healthy prosperous society might be only wishful thinking?
Inflation is a setback, the only cure more competition created by some kind of opportunity?
2 people like this
@moffittjc (118452)
• Gainesville, Florida
11 Dec 16
@JamesHxstatic We've got to do something to help the common worker, as it continues to get worse and worse with each passing year. I've always thought to myself that this is a cycle that cannot continue on indefinitely, because at some point the working class are going to rise up and revolt against the ruling class (the wealthy). I always envision it being like the French Revolution, but I'm hoping it's not something that ever leads to bloodshed. But inevitably we have to do something.
1 person likes this
@JamesHxstatic (29242)
• Eugene, Oregon
11 Dec 16
No doubt it might, but inflation has been near zero for years now. Wages are just beginning to rise as of 2016 and Social Security is shortchanged.
1 person likes this
@RichardMeister (5328)
• Otis Orchards, Washington
11 Dec 16
According to the book Runaway Inequality CEOs of the top 100 corporations earn on average $829 to every $1 that Joe or Josephine makes. And for the top 200 they earn $587 to every $1 the average worker does. Those figures are from 2013. So if you work for one of the top 100 corporations and you are making $15 an hour the CEO is making $12,435 an hour. So average Joe makes $31,200 a year while the CEO makes $25,864,800 a year.
1 person likes this
@JamesHxstatic (29242)
• Eugene, Oregon
11 Dec 16
Yep, isn't that a great thing here in the land of the free?
1 person likes this
@JamesHxstatic (29242)
• Eugene, Oregon
12 Dec 16
@RichardMeister Amazing. That sounds like a book American workers need to read.
1 person likes this
@RichardMeister (5328)
• Otis Orchards, Washington
11 Dec 16
@JamesHxstatic Runaway Inequality is full of a lot of eye opening information. In England, say you are on vacation and you fall down and break your leg, it's a law that the company has to give you a "do over" vacation since you were laid up and could not enjoy your vacation. This is true if anything happens to where you cannot enjoy your vacation. And companies like McDonald's have to obey the laws there. They also have to pay higher minimum wages. So if they have to do that in England why can't they do it here?
1 person likes this
@JamesHxstatic (29242)
• Eugene, Oregon
11 Dec 16
Oh yeah and he always will, but corporations should be punished for this kind of conduct.
1 person likes this
@JohnRoberts (109857)
• Los Angeles, California
10 Dec 16
I also think Hollywood needs a similar tax. It's obscene for movies to turn a billion in box office profit not to mention merchandise revenue. Think of Iron Man as a CEO and a tax imposed on a movie making over a determined number. I also think the insane salaries of athletes require higher tax. I am not being facetious about this. I am serious. The locker room dude has to pick up the stinky towels and clean up after billionaires like LeBron.
1 person likes this
@JamesHxstatic (29242)
• Eugene, Oregon
11 Dec 16
I agree. Movies are a huge gamble though and the people who pay the high ticket prices have a choice, unlike workers in the corporate world who have to hold on to their jobs for dear life. The athletic thing is truly insane, I agree.
1 person likes this
@JamesHxstatic (29242)
• Eugene, Oregon
11 Dec 16
@JohnRoberts Yes, I can see your point, John.
1 person likes this
@JohnRoberts (109857)
• Los Angeles, California
11 Dec 16
@JamesHxstatic I know a movie is a gamble but they are made by corporations with vast holdings including cable, internet etc that gouge us even when we are unaware. Even a financial flop at the box office turns into gold as a write off.
1 person likes this
@celticeagle (159058)
• Boise, Idaho
10 Dec 16
Sounds a great idea.I wonder how fast others will follow suit.
1 person likes this
@JamesHxstatic (29242)
• Eugene, Oregon
11 Dec 16
Slowly since most cities are not at all progressive.
1 person likes this
@PatZAnthony (14752)
• Charlotte, North Carolina
10 Dec 16
No one is worth the huge salaries we hear about. Many earn several times what presidents do. If they can't live on less money, how can they be the right choice to run a business?
1 person likes this
@JamesHxstatic (29242)
• Eugene, Oregon
11 Dec 16
So true. the salaries and bonuses and perks are beyond reason. I wish I believed it will get better soon.
@Marilynda1225 (79769)
• United States
10 Dec 16
Not only do CEO' s make outrageous salaries but most of them get crazy bonuses too whereas the lowly employee is lucky if they get a pay raise or a bonus during the year.
1 person likes this
@JamesHxstatic (29242)
• Eugene, Oregon
11 Dec 16
Oh yes, I forgot about the insane bonuses they get, while pennies trickle down to workers.
@JamesHxstatic (29242)
• Eugene, Oregon
11 Dec 16
More regs needed to curtail the corporations.
1 person likes this
@nanette64 (20364)
• Fairfield, Texas
11 Dec 16
No they don't @JamesHxstatic ; particularly when they probably only show up once a month. Something else that should tick you off is the CEO's of non-profit animal organizations. They make big bucks. What happened to the words non-profit!!
1 person likes this
@JamesHxstatic (29242)
• Eugene, Oregon
11 Dec 16
I wondered about that too when I read that our local non-profit hospital was more "profitable" than any other in the US. It puzzles me.
1 person likes this
@JamesHxstatic (29242)
• Eugene, Oregon
12 Dec 16
@nanette64 How awful that the ASPCA is guilty of that too.
1 person likes this
@nanette64 (20364)
• Fairfield, Texas
11 Dec 16
@JamesHxstatic I know a few years back the ASPCA was under investigation for the profits being made by the CEO at the time. When I had the animal shelter built here at my place, every penny went to food, water, vet bills and maintaining the shelters. Since I also lived on the property, I took care of the animals 24/7 because it was rare that we had any volunteers.
1 person likes this
@Morleyhunt (21737)
• Canada
11 Dec 16
It seems obscene that anyone should earn that much.
That said, I owned my own small retail business. I sold dresses and if alterations were needed I did the work for a modest fee. I had customers tell me, because I owned the business, I shouldn't be charging them for their alterations. Most of them would not have worked for the modest amount I was "paying" myself.
1 person likes this
@JamesHxstatic (29242)
• Eugene, Oregon
11 Dec 16
I know that owning a small business is a difficult thing.
1 person likes this
@JamesHxstatic (29242)
• Eugene, Oregon
12 Dec 16
It is sad that it has come to this point for working people.
1 person likes this
@JamesHxstatic (29242)
• Eugene, Oregon
11 Dec 16
Education has been left out in the cold, as usual and nothing is more important.
1 person likes this
@JamesHxstatic (29242)
• Eugene, Oregon
12 Dec 16
@paigea In many parts of the US, teachers are very poorly paid, especially for the hours they work.
1 person likes this
@paigea (35702)
• Canada
11 Dec 16
@JamesHxstatic Teachers do get paid decently in Alberta and in the public system have a decent pension plan. Decently, not extravagantly.
1 person likes this
@JamesHxstatic (29242)
• Eugene, Oregon
11 Dec 16
Yep, the Vassals need help. A salary cap is a faint and forlorn hope, I'm afraid.
