The Economic Policy Institute in Washington DC reported that CEOs in the US earned 262 times as much as the average worker in 2005. This will not come as a surprise to many, though, as citizens seem to take for granted the ever-increasing rift between the rich and everyone else.
And surely this sheds new light on the minimum wage issue. How can we expect a typical CEO, making $42,000 per day, to increase wages for the people that help make him rich? Surely this is not what capitalism is supposed to be.
Put another way, the average worker — who earned $41,861 in 2005 — made about $400 less last year than what the average large-company CEO made in one day. That assumes 260 days of pay (52 weeks x 5 days a week).
The CEO-to-worker pay differential in 2005 was the second highest on record. The highest was 2000, when the average CEO earned 300 times what the average worker made. (Source: CNN)
Other Views: Consumerism Commentary
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Well, I’d say the responsibilty and importance of a CEO is two orders of magnitude greater than of any single ‘average’ worker. This is capitalism at its finest.
Surely a CEO should make more than his workers, but I think the divide between the two is a little ridiculous at this point.
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[...] On this website, we’ve written a lot about the growing gap between the rich and the poor. CEOs are earning hundreds of times what the average employee earns. Congress has been blocking increases in the minimum wage while trying to cut inheritance taxes. Health insurance costs are skyrocketing, along with the cost of higher education. And the list goes on and on. [...]