Does executive pay seem out of control?

Question

Studies show average executive pay at 500 times that of the average worker, up from 140 times 15 years ago.

Answer 1

It is absolutely out-of-control. The amount of compensation available to a CEO is obscene The notion that it is necessary to "motivate" a CEO to deliver shareholder value is a bunch of crap.

Even in the face of ridiculous levels of pay, that's not even the thing that bothers me most. Take a look at the severance packages for CEOs who HAVE FAILED AND BEEN TERMINATED. The CEO of Home Depot, after 5 years of lackluster results, was essentially terminated by the board and received a severance package worth $200+ Million. There are 100s of similar situations.

I'll get off my soap box in a moment, but I believe the issue is that wealth and well-being are controlled each year by a smaller and smaller group of people. Between hedge funds, executive comp., and shareholder activism, the U.S. economy is set-up to benefit an elite club of the mega-wealthy at the expense of everyone else. Take a guess at the most often employed tactic of a CEO in their first year...if you guessed layoffs, you are correct.

Something has got to change. I have less to complain about than most, but I don't think I'm over-reaching to call this a crisis....one that seems eerily reminiscent of pre-revolutionary France (oh, by the way, guess the origin of our current economic model...France).

I'm violating the cardinal rule here: complaining about the status quo without an alternative. All I know is that 99.7% of the world's population are not going to scrape out a modest existence and eventually die so that the remaining .3% can live in hedonistic opulence. A quick look at history suggests that world won't work that way for very long before something gives.

Answer 2

Yes we are on our way to becoming a nation of CEOs and fast food workers. No middle class.

Answer 3

Yes, executive pay is out of control especially when they put caps on other salaried and hourly worker's pay.