The rich get richer: And the argument not to tax them gets smaller

[Divernan]

Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

As Americans go into what will presumably be the last act of the Washington unreality show that constitutes raising the debt limit and possibly erasing at least part of the budget deficit, it is definitely worth looking at a study commissioned by The New York Times on the pay of the country's top executives.

As gauged by Equilar, an executive compensation data firm, in a nutshell, the median pay of top executives at 200 of America's big companies in 2010 rose 23 percent from 2009. That median pay level stood at $10.8 million, including cash bonuses and stock grants.

The highest pay went to Viacom's CEO, Philippe R. Dauman, who was paid an almost unimaginable $84.5 million. The highest paying companies were in the media, oil, commodity and technology fields. Another example was Comcast's CEO, Brian L. Roberts, who took home $28.2 million.

In the meantime, the average American worker earned $752 a week, or $39,104 a year as his median pay, a pathetic 0.4 percent of what the top executives earned. His pay rose 0.5 percent from 2009 to 2010, as opposed to the 23 percent increase the executives received. U.S. unemployment stands at 9.2 percent, with some 14.1 million Americans jobless.


Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11200/1161274-192.stm#ixzz1SYZhoTfU

[Divernan]

1. GOP renames the rich to be "job creators", as opposed to campaign contributors.

More from editorial:
"Where this information comes into play with respect to whatever compromise is finally arrived at in Washington -- if the United States is spared the humiliation of a sovereign debt default -- is whether America's rich should pay more taxes.

In defense of the rich one ploy the Republicans have tried is to rename them "job creators," as opposed perhaps to "campaign contributors." The idea is that any increase in their taxes would discourage them from creating jobs, an idea proved to be preposterous by the fact that they have benefited from the Bush tax cuts for 10 years now while job creation in the U.S. economy has gasped to a virtual halt, providing as example only 18,000 new jobs in June.

In the meantime, the Wall Street lobby spent an estimated $52 million in the first three months of this year seeking to stifle regulation by the Congress of the activities of banks and financial firms under the new Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.

Given the revenue problems the country faces, whatever agreement President Barack Obama and the Democrats arrive at with the Republicans had better include increases in the taxes that these lucky top executives pay. The spread between what they receive and their 23 percent annual increase, and what the American worker receives, with his 0.5 percent increase lagging well behind inflation, gauged at 3.6 percent in June, is simply intolerable.

[HockeyMom]

4. Job Creators

Morning Joe did a piece on this today. He had clips of all the Republican Senators saying JOB CREATORS. It was very, very funny, and TRUE. Brainwashing. Unfortunately, far too many people in our country don't understand this type of brainwashing. Keep saying something over and over, and people will believe it. Faux News does it ALL THE TIME.

[Stuart G]

2. Tax the rich more,,,please..nt

[Myrina]

3. 80% sounds about right to me ...

:patriot:

[plumbob]

5. 92% was the top rate in 1952, when I was born. Great decade for the economy.

Yeah, 92%.