Average worker pay compared to CEO pay. Click on the chart to enlarge. Credit: The New York Times
Here's what's wrong with corporate America, folks. You are being badly ripped off.
This "wide divide," this economic disparity, is what happens when you rely on unbridled capitalism and "market forces" to set wages, and count on the fairness and generosity of our corporate masters.
By 2004, the top 10 percent of executives earned at least 350 times the average worker's pay, up from 122 times in 1990 and 74 times in 1950. Talk about trickle-down economics!
Next time someone tells you, "If the government would just leave business alone to do business, things would take care of themselves," you can remember this chart and its message: The private sector has BEEN left alone by government, when it comes to "letting wages find their natural level." That area is completely unregulated on the top end, with minimum wage laws being the only restraints on the bottom end.
Here's the real-world result of those "market forces" of which conservatives (yes, even -- hell, especially -- the libertarian kind represented by Ron Paul) are so fond.
Reality check: The laissez faire approach to the economy has already been tried, people. See the history of the late 19th and early 20th centuries in America: Robber barons, greedy monopolists, exploitation of workers, child labor, sweat shops, environmental despoilation in the name of profits, economic suppression of the working class, all for the miserly profits of a few big tycoons.
Base an entire society and economic system on human greed and the acquisition of wealth and material goods, and this is what happens. The powerful exploit the weak. The rich buy political influence, and the working class gets an insulting pittance with a super-sized helping of condescension. Should anyone be surprised?
Here's what you have in America today, as a result of trusting corporations to do the right thing: Working men and women are out of luck. If working class families have anything besides crushing debt, for the most part, it's their houses, for the lucky ones. And holy hell, look what's happening to the housing market. For the first time in two decades, real estate values are dropping like a stone, and the bottom's not in sight yet.
Debt's piling up. Under the Bush administration, credit card companies have been deregulated and unleashed to practice their particularly nasty brand of predatory lending and interest rate hiking, and it's tougher than ever to declare bankruptcy.
There's nothing in the bank for a rainy day, for a medical emergency, or worse, for retirement. And due to the Wal-Martization of jobs in corporate America, every year, more and more people don't even have health insurance or a retirement plan.
What do I mean by Wal-Martization? Well, when a company increases its profits by underpaying its workers and by keeping most or all of them "part-time," thus dodging requirements to provide bedrock benefits like insurance and retirement -- and gets away with it! -- you can damn well believe that other corporations are watching and learning. Welcome to the new America.
"A persistent slide in work-based health insurance is largely to blame for a 2.2 million rise in the number of uninsured in America," according to policy experts.
United States Census Bureau figures released last year show that the number of people without coverage increased to 47 million from 2005 to 2006. The jump is "appalling," said American Medical Association President-elect Nancy H. Nielsen, MD, PhD. "I was so disappointed, because we have had years of people talking about this problem."
The corporate fat cats make billions of dollars cutting the international deals whose end result is making workers unemployed or underemployed and thanking their lucky stars for a $15 buck-an-hour job wearing an apron at Wal-Mart or flipping burgers at McDonalds. This, while the CEOs and upper management play golf, cultivate decadent habits and mistreat the illegal immigrant yard help at their palatial estates.
Meanwhile, the corporate bigwigs want you to continue to vote against your own economic interests by supporting the party that issues huge tax cuts for the rich while trickling pennies on the working class. "But who'd be stupid enough to vote that way?" you might ask.
People who are scared can be convinced to do stupid things. If you can rig the system so that people are scared of each other, scared of terrorists, scared on the issues of race and gender and sexual orientation and ethnicity, it's easy to control them. Teach people to fear and hate diversity rather than celebrating it, and you can get them to march lockstep right into their own economic doom.
Teach them that speaking out leads to consequences. Teach them that they should unquestioningly accept a government which spies on their phone conversations, email, and text messages, and you'll have a populace too intimidated to stand up for themselves. Teach them that under the Patriot Act, any deviation from the plans your corporate masters have for you can be defined as "terrorism," and you can be locked up indefinitely without knowing if or when you'll be charged or tried.
Pass laws that make it easy to outsource their jobs to other countries should they demand decent benefits and living wages and safe work environments. Keep that threat hanging over their heads and they'll remain compliant.
Teach the workforce that they should accept a corporate culture that is not only concerned with your productivity in the workplace, but which also makes it the business of the company what you choose to do in your off time. Teach them that they should accept the invasion of their privacy and the confiscation of the very fluids of their bodies as some kind of chemical loyalty oath, and that if they choose to indulge in substances that don't bear the seal of corporate approval and corporate profits, they can lose their livelihood.
This is what happens when the market drives the economy. Things will be different come the Revolution.
http://realitycatcher-alapoet.blogspot.com/
I'm a 48-year-old writer, editor, ex-musician, dreamer, reality catcher, ex-con, and father. I have three kids, five tattoos, a criminal record, a terminal disease, and an attitude. I was born in Alabama and spent the first 38 years of my life there and in Mississippi. In the 1970s and 1980s, I was a drummer in various hard rock bar bands in Alabama and Mississippi. Since 1985, I've worked for newspapers, ad agencies and magazines. I've also taken inventory, indulged in independent entrepreneurship, run a newspaper route and served time. I've been on the West Coast, L.A. or Seattle, since 1999.
Nicely done, well said and all that. But please tell me something I don't already know. However, preaching to the choir is good, some times. You should do well to get it all out of your system. I'm just running out of steam, continually trying to claw my way to the top, only to barely reach the surface for some air. Good luck.
by
Ivan Hentschel (5 articles, 0 quicklinks, 8 diaries, 254 comments)
on Tuesday, June 17, 2008 at 5:04:04 PM
There are boarded up stores, the family owned businesses pushed out by the Big Box Stores and low import pricing. There are dozens of abandoned properties and foreclosures. People have had their pension plans gutted or squandered. Good paying jobs are being quickly eroded from the bottom up.
And the sickening thing is that so many people still think "it can't happen to me".
Well with this kind of greed at the top and a complicit Congress, Senate and Executive branch - all beholden to the one single "Money Party" - the US is well on it's way to falling - and it is not going to be pretty.
The crumbling dollar, alarming rates of outsourcing of American Jobs and the crushing of the labor movement and growth of the Super Corporation (via suspended Anti-Trust break-ups). Our Corporations have exported our jobs, sold us out and bankrupted our National Treasure by privatizing essential services and charging us back many times what it would cost if they were civil service jobs.
It's all so sick.
The Wealth of a nation should not be judged by GDP - or the rise of the wealthy - it should be judged by the standard of living of the average person. Is there a secure safety net for everyone in the society? Universally accessible Health Care that is fairly funded? A decent infrastructure, solid public utility companies, owned collectively? Solid educational system that includes critical thinking?
The wrong people are in jail.... we should start with Congress.
by
August Adams (10 articles, 0 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 442 comments)
on Tuesday, June 17, 2008 at 7:26:39 PM
Maybe we should have a wealth tax instead of income tax.
or
Consider that corporate citizens only pay tax on whats left over after expenses and they can carry forward losses to offset future taxes. Why not regular citizens?
by
pft (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 466 comments)
on Wednesday, June 18, 2008 at 3:29:54 AM
Just when will this revolution take place? Who is going to take part? The sheeple? Most people I talk to are to scared to say "boo", let alone challenge authority. Will things have to completely collapse before action is taken? Because that's my guess. But will there be anything or body left to build upon after those whom have all the power destroy it all before giving it up?
For all our so-called American independence I've witnessed very little of it. The Elite have done a very good job conning people into thinking possessions equate to freedom, a material world takes the place of a spiritual one. Entertainment replaces education. Fear replaces freedom. The sheeple become afraid to lose what little they have in exchange for subservience. Orwell's' double-think becomes common place as people give-up liberties for freedom.
So where are we? Are we approaching a pinnacle? Is the tipping point near?' Because I don't see it. For all the outrageous crimes perpetrated against this dumbed-down, drugged-out, poisoned bodies of and minds the sheeple they still haven't got a clue as to what to do or how to do it. If you can get past the denial and show them the awful truth the first reaction you get is a defeatist, "what can I do?". The next is a rush back into a life-style that is clocked in the very things that are keeping them from actually being free, but instead feeds the very people who are starving them. Too afraid and too clueless they block-out what is real and cling to a sinking ship thinking that somehow it will bob back to the surface and save them.
The Masters have used Edwin Berney's blueprint to perfection and hapless masses have not an idea of how they have been played. They'll watch buildings fall defying all none physics and logic and rather than accept what they see believe instead what they'll told. They'll witness a hole in the ground and be told a plane crashed there absent a plane and not question what they've been told. They'll look at a 16' foot hole and accept that a commercial jet disappeared into it. They'll vote on machines that they know are corrupt and think they're voting for "change" when in reality they're voting for more "chains".
So please, when is this revolution going to take place and who besides a very small percentage of people, whom the powers that be could easily eliminate should we become too much a thorn in their side, are going to participate?
Because if it's going to happen it better happen before things get any worse, because if you think the sheeple are coward now wait until the next "false flag" attack and you can watch those sheeple stand by in silence as we get dragged form our homes carted off to FEMA camps as they thank their false God it isn't them.
by
Mr M (4 articles, 0 quicklinks, 12 diaries, 1442 comments)
on Wednesday, June 18, 2008 at 7:44:44 AM
I don't know, Mr. M. I'm about to turn 61 and I've been asking that question and wondering about a revolution (or something like it..a decent upheaval would be nice) for about 20 odd years. It seems the louder I yell, the quieter it gets. I read artciles on this blog almost daily, decrying the way things are and pleading for a hearing, but there seems to be no measurable response. The false flags are going up (Houston?), but nobody is watching the flagpoles.
It is sadly simple: no one is paying attention because they feel no need to. They want the impossible dream and can't see the probable nightmare. And they won't until the miserable fate we are predicting is upon them in such a way as to be irreparable and irreversible. The far left cries out for some kind of anarchical justice without a plan, and the far right says everything is just fine and the erosion of our liberties hasn't gone far enough to suit them. Meanwhile, the middle is crumbling.
Beats me. Every day I think I might hear about your tipping point and instead I just get news of Hollywood divorces and congressional and/or admininstration leaders who are failing at their jobs. What a dismal state of affairs. I have to ask that question: 'If not now, WHEN?"
If you hear anything, let me know.
by
Ivan Hentschel (5 articles, 0 quicklinks, 8 diaries, 254 comments)
on Wednesday, June 18, 2008 at 10:13:08 AM
Our (the USA) constitution starts with We the People. It was the result of a populist uprising to overthrow the greed of King George.
I still believe in our constitution and still hope that change for the betterment of We the People will happen in a peaceful manner with the next elections. I keep hoping that a candidate that really gets that international corporations have usurped power from the American People to such extent that our Government is no longer a Government of the People and for the People.
These big corporations have purchased all the main stream media so they control the citizens view of the world. The main stream media tries to get you to believe that we are fighting in Iraq to combat terrorism when in reality we invaded Iraq to enable big oil corporations to take control of the oil resource in Iraq; and that we need to invade Iran to fight terrorism and not because they have large oil resource.
The world faces global disaster from global warming caused by burning fossil fuels; and the big oil and coal corporations bribe our congressional representatives to prevent action to switch to free and clean sun and wind sources of energy. Death (waging wars for oil) and Destruction (destroying the Earth's environment) for greed (more profit for the rich and powerful international oil and coal corporations).
Polls show that the American people think the war in Iraq needs to end and that we need to take action to save our environment from global warming; but our government ignores the people they are supposed to represent.
We the People need to put pressure on your elected representatives to such an extent that they understand we will defeat you if you fail to act according to the will of the people and not the will of the corporations when their will is against that of the people.
The Republican party has traditionally been known as believing that aiding big business will trickle down to be of benefit to the people; but the facts are before us that this belief is incorrect. Big business moves jobs from America to countries where their labor costs are less (lower wages, no health care, no pensions); they abandon the American people in their desire for more profit.
The Democratic party talks like they care for the people; but their action show that they too are being seduced by the money and power of big corporations. They continue the war, no universal health care, no environmental action. Their actions speak much louder than their words.
Libertarians talk about ending the war; but it seems to me that all they care about is that individuals and corporations should be able to do whatever they want. In my opinion corporations do pretty much whatever they want now; and that is what has created the world we have.
I believe that our government should support the common good; and that means take action that creates jobs, keeps our environment livable, and listens to We the People.
The main stream media needs to understand the role given to them by We the People (freedom from the rich and powerful) to uncover and tell us the truth, to expose wrong-doing, and to inform us when We the People are being abused.
by
Philip Pease (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 128 comments)
on Wednesday, June 18, 2008 at 10:25:36 AM
Adam Smith is probably rolling in his grave as it appears business and government leaders in today’s society have put much more stock into the element of his economic theories that deal with “self-interest” that with portions dealing with the “invisible hand” and use of a moral compass. In today’s 21st century, the “impartial spectator” Adam Smith believed would evoke sympathy for the common man is extremely “partial” and has very little sympathy.
by
Judy Austin (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 1 comments)
on Wednesday, June 18, 2008 at 10:58:34 AM
I am very glad that Steve wrote this and OEN saw fit to print it. It seems to have garnered a lot of attention, and done so without eliciting a bunch of vitriol or wild-eyed ranting. The concerns expressed here are genuine, thoughtful and even-tempered. I hope many more will chime in. This is the way in which good ideas and profitable intellectual commerce are fostered and grow. Thanks to Steve and all the rest of you.
by
Ivan Hentschel (5 articles, 0 quicklinks, 8 diaries, 254 comments)
on Wednesday, June 18, 2008 at 11:46:40 AM
The little man can still fight with the weapons available
I post the following because I too am sick of being ripped off a thousand ways to Sunday. The article I point you to has a couple of salient points and profound wisdom to contemplate. It also is the story of a little guy who stood up to the system...and triumphed. In addition, I believe the U.S. govt.'s illegal sell out to the Federal Reserve is one of the most egregious RIPOFFS in history. Fiat money is the source of much of our pain and the people do not realize it, nor understand that it is illegal according to the U.S. Constitution (Coining of money shall be...silver, gold). The Fiat system Will Fold as all have throughout history. There is 1 Way, to maintain your hard-earned "scraps" of wealth, and that is through owning outright "real" money. Gold, Silver. Silver being better than gold, though only 1 in ten thousand people understand this. Do yourself and your family a favor, and educate yourself on this subject.
Derry Brownfield June 15, 2008I began a recent presentation before a large group of cattle producers (R-CALFUSA) by showing a paper dollar bill and a silver coin. The words “one dollar” is inscribed on both the coin and the paper, yet the paper dollar will only pay for about one quart of gasoline at today’s prices, while the silver dollar will pay for well over five gallons. I explained to my audience that consumer prices are not high – the paper dollar has lost most of its value. It makes no difference how high the price of gasoline goes, a silver dollar will continue to buy gas for 20 cents a gallon, exactly the price gas was during the Great Depression. Based on 1940 prices, a paper dollar is worth about two pennies.Today in America, we are being systematically robbed of our property because we have allowed the Federal Reserve to flood our banks with fiat, worthless paper money…Robert Kahre owns a family business and instead of using paper money he paid his workers with gold and silver coins minted by the United States government. He paid them based on the “face value” of the coins. If he paid a worker a dollar an hour he paid with a silver dollar, which states on the coin that it is “one dollar” regardless of today’s value. His wages were so low that he didn’t have to file W-2 income tax forms or withhold taxes or pay workman’s comp. This upset the IRS, which charged him and his family with 161 federal tax crimes.
THIS MAN ENDED UP BEATING THE IRS – USING REAL MONEY – SILVER AND GOLD – GET SOME!
If you would like to research further, you may educate yourself by reading the frequent articles found at www.silverseek.com.See the Articles/Archives of Theodore “Ted” Butler who is the silver industry “GURU”, researcher/commentator.(see the above article at)
I'm very gratified by all the thoughtful and intelligent comments on this article. It shows that we have here a healthy community of people who care about the future of our society. I truly appreciate the respectful tone of all the comments.
When it comes to revolution, I'm of the Robert F. Kennedy school of thought:
"A revolution is coming -- a revolution which will be peaceful if we are wise enough; compassionate if we care enough; successful if we are fortunate enough. But a revolution which is coming whether we will it or not. We can affect its character; we cannot alter its inevitability." ~ RFK
I hope the revolution will be of the peaceful, compassionate, constructive variety -- the kind that happens at the ballot box as a result of happening in society, one mind at the time, as more and more people become enlightened and aware of the fact that corporations make good servants, but really bad masters.
When the majority of people finally realize that corporations are NOT, by and large, altruistic or even fair in any meaningful way (yes, that's obvious to us, but apparently not to many others), then we'll see meaningful change in the way this country is run.
That's why it's crucial for each of us to speak out, to not be afraid to speak truth to power, and to act and vote accordingly. In a time of crisis -- a time like this -- there is nothing more important than that.
by
Steve Elliott (6 articles, 1 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 6 comments)
on Wednesday, June 18, 2008 at 1:11:29 PM
We could vote the rich puppetmasters out in one election cycle if we were not all paralyzed by our own helpnessness. Because elections are won chiefly through for-profit media and advertising, it's difficult to run a progressive or populist Congressional candidate.
A perfect example of this is my home district's Rep., Eliot Engel. This 10-term Democrat voted for the war, voted to fund the war and insisted the last war approriation specifically allowed Bush to attack Iran without Congressional approval. He also has been evangelizing right-wing Israeli war hawks and satellite radio mega-mergers on our taxpayer time, while taking for granted the real needs of his constituents - middle class tax relief, ending the war, environmental issues.
With all this, he's cruising to reelection...
by
Gustav Wynn (62 articles, 38 quicklinks, 5 diaries, 286 comments)
on Wednesday, June 18, 2008 at 1:34:52 PM
RBS issues global stock and credit crash alert By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, International Business EditorLast Updated: 5:42pm BST 18/06/2008
The Royal Bank of Scotland has advised clients to brace for a full-fledged crash in global stock and credit markets over the next three months as inflation paralyses the major central banks.
"A very nasty period is soon to be upon us - be prepared," said Bob Janjuah, the bank's credit strategist.
A report by the bank's research team warns that the S&P 500 index of Wall Street equities is likely to fall by more than 300 points to around 1050 by September as "all the chickens come home to roost" from the excesses of the global boom, with contagion spreading across Europe and emerging markets.
RBS warning: Be prepared for a 'nasty' period
Such a slide on world bourses would amount to one of the worst bear markets over the last century.
I'll say. They lied their butts off too. So did Bush.
This is what happened: Several reports worked up about the "credit card crunch" mentioned the bloody obvious: Americans were using Mastercard (or whichever) as unemployment money between jobs, or as a safety net when a trip to the hospital couldn't be avoided.
At least one of the reports was spiked, but who besides the drowning ever noticed? The fact is that Americans without medical coverage but WITH credit cards were the most likely to declare bankruptcy. Essentially they were optimists, assuming that however high the bills were, they'd have the wherewithall to cover them -- third job, sell an organ, who knows? I don't. I'm not an optimist.
So the reason they railroaded the "credit card reform" through quickly was to keep the illusion alive that card "abuse" was because of the shop till you drop crowd. It was all irresponsibility. That's how the WSJ pundits played it. Billions for corporate bailouts. But if Aunt Clara had pneumonia and you maxed out your VISA helping her out...
The biggest pain this whole damn issue evokes: It's so unnecessary. The rich, the Plutocrats, know there's enough money in the system. They get the same news we all get and there's more than enough wealth in this system for things like medical coverage and pensions. This is not greed. We're dealing with something bigger, something worse.
The "free market" is America's brand of upside-down Bolshevism: Those with MOST of America's wealth want ALL of America's wealth. Slugs of the world, unite! You have nothing lose but your scruples... so quote Milton Friedman and pretend there's something going on besides piracy.
by
Franz (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 1 comments)
on Thursday, June 19, 2008 at 3:18:09 AM
14 comments
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