is it fair that the average ceo makes 300-3000 times as much as his average worker?

Question

Capitalism is great.. where deserving CEO's can make unlimited earnings..

and let me cut off all you ready to pay dummies.. in the 90's (the last time we had a democrat... that was actually elected) the wage gap steadied and even began to recede.. now 6 years later and the middle class is stagnating and even going backwards... that's you all. the Top one percent in this country controls 20-30%,
and don't talk about tax's either.. I don't care how much the average Goldman Sachs ceo pays.. it isn't enough ..
http://blogs.usatoday.com/oped/2006/12/post_50.html

Answer 1

there is nothing wrong with setting your goals higher than "average" and achieving them...

Answer 2

Well yes it is absurd, but so are football, basketball, and baseball player salaries. That's the free market system though. You have to remember that it doesn't matter how much someone else makes, because it in no way, shape or form prevents you from getting an education, pursuing a job or career, saving some money on the side, making some smart investments, and retiring comfortably. I think we are all jealous of people who have been lucky and made it big, but you can't let that destroy the fact that capitalism turned this country into a superpower. The closer we get to true capitalism, the stronger we get since it forces people to rely on themselves and their families rather than be a liability to the taxpayer. Unfortunately, we have been drifting towards socialism and communism ever since Carter, Clinton, and now Obama have done their damage. Now if you look at the Chinese and Russians, they have already tried Communism and it didn't work. The ironic part is that now the Chinese and Russians are making Capitalistic reforms and doing much better, while we are moving in the opposite direction. It's pure insanity.

Answer 3

Just how much money does any one person need? When a CEO is capable of pulling out a half billion dollars from a company in six years, (see home depot CEO Bob Nardelli) how do the shareholders benefit, which is the reason given to explain the outrageous pay and yet we sit on here cursing each other over the minimum wage increase.

Answer 4

Why do you care what the CEO of a corporation makes? How is it any of your business, unless you're a shareholder of that corporation? You are simply another leftist class warrior, more concerned with "fairness" than with getting an education and working hard to actually better yourself.

Labor is a commodity like any other. There's such a thing as the law of supply and demand. The supply of unskilled workers able to plug screw "A" into hole "B" is almost unlimited. Therefore, they will earn less. The supply of people with the requisite skill set to serve as the CEO of a major corporation is decidedly smaller. Simple economics dictate they will make more. Further, corporations compete for those relatively few capable people. Don't blame "greed" or "unfairness". Blame economics...if more people had the necessary skill set, their compensation would be lower.

Answer 5

I agree, here's an answer to that from MotherJones magazine from Senator Bernie Sanders.

A Budget for the Middle Class
Commentary: On the eve of President Bush's 2007 budget proposal, freshman Senator and Senate Budget Committee member Bernie Sanders (I-VT) demands a financial plan for America that rolls back tax cuts for the wealthy and stands up for the middle class and working poor.

By Bernie Sanders

January 30, 2007

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Early next month, the president has an historic opportunity to submit a federal budget to a Democratically-controlled Congress that will expand the middle class, reduce the enormous gap between the rich and the poor, and lower the poverty rate. But don’t hold your breath. The president’s pledge to make all of his tax cuts permanent, including hundreds of billions to the wealthiest people in our country, while balancing the budget within five years, is not an encouraging sign of things to come.

While there is still time to change course, it appears that the president’s budget proposal will be closer than ever to meeting Grover Norquist’s goal of cutting government "down to the size where we can drown it in the bathtub."

It should come as no surprise, therefore, that when the Republicans controlled Congress, Vice President Dick Cheney infamously declared that "deficits don’t matter."

Or, when then-House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, upped the ante by telling a group of bankers that "Nothing is more important in the face of war than cutting taxes."

In large part by ramming through massive tax giveaways to millionaires, billionaires, and wealthy corporations, President Bush and the Republican Congress were responsible for racking-up the three largest deficits in U.S. history and accumulating a record-breaking $8.6 trillion national debt.

And now, with the Democrats in control of Congress, the president has suddenly gotten deficit-reduction religion while continuing his failed trickle-down economic policies. If the president succeeds, his plan will inevitably lead to massive cutbacks in Medicare, Medicaid, education, veterans' benefits, and the environment. I do not believe that is the vision of America that voters had in mind when they put Democrats in charge of Congress last November.

At a time when millions of Americans are struggling to keep their heads above water economically the last thing we need to do is to make the president's tax cuts for the wealthy permanent. What is needed in Washington is the political courage to roll-back the president's tax breaks for the wealthiest one percent and stand-up for the middle class and working poor.

The president still believes that the economy is booming as a result of his tax breaks. But the president fails to note that since he has been in office, 5.4 million middle class Americans have slipped into poverty, 6.8 million Americans have lost their health insurance, median income for working-age families has declined for five consecutive years, and 3 million manufacturing workers have lost their jobs. At the same time, the costs of education, prescription drugs, energy, and housing have risen dramatically.

Meanwhile, the wealthy have never had it so good. The richest 13,000 households earn nearly as much income as the bottom 20 million and the top one percent own more wealth than the bottom 90 percent.

In terms of our federal budget priorities there is one key question which must be asked. Which side are we on: the rich and the powerful or the middle class and working families?

http://www.motherjones.com/news/update/2007/01/sanders_oped.html

Answer 6

Your #'s are a bit off! Yes their are a few Very Large companies that don't know the value of a dollar, but to say the AVERAGE CEO makes those absurd amounts takes Your argument away. Yes they need to remember the story of Yurtle the Turtle i.e. the value of the little guy.

I haven't seen anything better offered than capitalism.

Answer 7

welll is it fair the flordia state seminoles coach makes more then the florida governer?!?!?! and if u are a CEO then stop being sooo greddy i mean u probably get paid a lot of money compared to those that dont even get 1500 a month

Answer 8

Thats why I work with a company that the employees can actually make more money than management. I teach and train others to do the same and it has changed my life and my choices. I wish this for everyone.

Answer 9

What is really annoying are the ones that get fired for doing a bad job and get paid umpteen million dollar severance deals!!!

Answer 10

Those who set up capitalism as a model never envisioned the rampant greed now exhibited!

Answer 11

Pay isn't about fair. If one person, or company, wants to give someone a large salary it is none of your business, it is not for the government to decide.

Also if a CEO gets his pay cut in half how does that help the worker?