U.S. CEO pay gap widens again

[swag]

http://cbs.marketwatch.com/news/story.asp?siteid=mktw&dist=nwtpf&guid=%7B67824A06%2DFF21%2D45E8%2DAE96%2D2A1FF8C6AF44%7D

Excerpt:

Based on data in Business Week's 54th annual executive compensation survey, the advocacy group United for a Fair Economy said CEOs of 365 major companies surveyed earned an average $155,769 a week, vs. $517 a week for the average production worker, $301 for every dollar earned by average workers.

That ratio was 282-to-1 in 2002, though it remains far below the record 531-to-1 spread in 2001, before the collapsing stock market shrunk the value of executives' stock options.

The widening of the pay gap is discouraging for workers who've been losing ground to top executives for two decades, said Scott Klinger, spokesman the non-profit group, which highlights growing U.S. economic inequality. The ratio of CEO-to-worker pay was just 42-1 in 1982.

"This creates a difficult work environment having bosses doing so well and workers struggling, worrying about their jobs and their health benefits," Klinger said. "Everyone should share in the gains, but until we get some different kind of people in boardrooms, we're not going to see this problem addressed."

. . .

[tom_paine]

1. Soon the pay gap will be equal to 1790s France

Historically, we will know what to do when we reach that within a century from today (probably much sooner).

[pschoeb]

2. reminds me of a Mr. Show skit - Time to Outsource CEOs

nt

[The Backlash Cometh]

3. Labor Unions need to buy up company stock.

I know it's already happening because I read it on DU.

[Laughing Mirror]

4. Discouraging for workers? Difficult work environment?

What's surprising to me is that kidnapping of those greedy CEO slobs is not on the upswing. When I lived in Brazil, fat cats of every stripe lived in constant fear of being kidnapped or sometimes tortured and killed, in lieu of ransom.

Kidnapping seems to have fallen out fashion here in the U.S. So have purse snatchings and muggings. I wonder when those trends will pick up again.

[otohara]

5. obscene amounts

there aren't enough hours in the day to justify this kind of salary - I worked for a man who made close to these amounts and when I was doing his expense report, he included .85 cent cups of coffee at the airports. Wouldn't even pay for his own coffee.