Why does an average CEO of a Big corperation make more money in a week than an average american makes in ayear

Question

Do they really work harder than the average american?

Klaatu,did you learn how to spell from your little sister?
And I am not jealous,Just wondering why there are people in america still living in poverty,when those CEOs couldnt even spend all their money in a lifetime.

Answer 1

They have to earn millions so that the poor and homeless have a reason to suffer. Why do they deserve so much? When so many work for minimum wage. No I am not a communist I am a realist and believe in fairness. No they don't work harder they just know how to work the stock holders and the tax system. They are social terrorists!

Answer 2

it is probably true that most of them work harder than the average american. Whether or not they derserve to make 400 to 700 or even more times what the average worker makes is highly debatable. SInce the 1980's executive pay has skyrocketed while average pay has hardly budged.

There are numerous reasons for this, compensation cosultants are paid by the companies and hired by top management, most board members are executives of other companies, inappropraite benchmarking, backdating stock options, restcted stock etc. etc. In general would say that their pay is way out of whack at this point, a lot of them get increases and bonuses regardless of performance, get big payoffs for doing mergers I could go on and on. They don't always work smarter as some people have said. I could go into a lot more detail on this, I worked in HR and Corporate compensation.

The woman who wrote the article in the link is an expert on this you should check out her columns on the topic.

PS conservatives should take note of brothers point -- if more and more wealth gets concentrated in the hands of fewer and fewer people the danger of real socialism grows proportionately. A vibrant middle class with true opportunity to have a decent standard of living is what has made this country great. The middle class has been getting squeezed here in the US. I am not saying most people don't have it pretty good here, but the current trend is not good.

Answer 3

I can tell you that the perception of CEO's has always been skewed.

When I was an employee I worked half the hours I do today. Now that I am a CEO I find myself working 12 - 16 hr days on many occasions.

I was a democrat then too, I am now a Republican.

If you can afford it never become a CEO, nobody ever said on there death bed "Gee I wish I spent more time at the office."

My employees have healthy attitudes towards work and accomplish much for my company, I believe they are working hard for themselves as much as they are for the company. I respect that in all of them.

Good Luck to you.

Answer 4

You're talking about a person who runs a corporation. A CEO's salery is negotiated by a board of directors. In other he gets paid what the company heads thinks he's worth. And you are you serious with this question? Do you really think a person that runs a company that employs thousands has less or equal responciblity than the average person? They have imfinitly larger problems

Answer 5

From the wall street journal regardin the history of CEO salaries since the 1993 law to cap them at 1million and the subsequent compensations since...

That 1993 law has itself become a classic example of unintended consequences. The biggest "loophole" in that law was an exemption carved out for performance-based compensation, which was meant to alleviate concerns about Congress setting pay rates in the private sector. Back then, even tub-thumping Senator Carl Levin said "I don't support the government setting CEO pay in the tax code." Which he and his mates proceeded to do anyway. And businesses promptly responded by shifting CEO pay away from salary and toward stock options and bonuses to circumvent the cap.

Congress hasn't yet seen fit to close the stock-option loophole, but it has decided to decide what constitutes "excessive" deferred compensation. Deferred comp can take many forms, but it basically involves a company's agreeing to pay an employee in a future year for services rendered this year.

Ironically, the targets of the law are probably those least likely to be affected by it. Top executives have the standing to negotiate gross-ups to cover their tax liability or to seek other forms of compensation, such as stock options or restricted stock grants, not covered by the cap.

Answer 6

Yes.
First off let's talk about education, usually these CEO's are not only college graduates but likely have received a Masters or Doctorate of Business and usually from a great school like Harvard. I work for PGE an energy company in California and our CEO has a Masters from Harvard. In addition with more power comes more responsibility, imagine how many people, problems he was to deal with on a daily basis. His choices affect depending on the company up to millions of employees. It's tough to compare work, however education provides a basis and the training necessary to be successful and in turn get you a higher paid job.

Answer 7

In most cases, they deserve large salaries. They have a lot of responsibilty and have to be married to their jobs.

In the past couple of decades, though, it seems that corporations are overpaying for these people.

In my opinion, NOBODY is worthy of some of the salary packages that are paid.

There is a finite amount of money. The more that the rich have, the less for everyone else.

If it gets out of hand, the have-nots will rebel against greed.

Answer 8

You do not get paid for hard work - all big salaries come from knowledge. Most manual labor could be duplicated by a machine or animal. Check the new self checkouts at stores - people love them, I always use them (few germs).

They do not work harder but must work smarter - look at bank account. Most do put in long hours at some point in their career, but the stress level is ridiculously high.

Answer 9

Some of them, yes. The average American only works 8 hours a day, 5 days a week. Running a company can be a 24/7 type of gig.

Now being on the Board of Directors- that's gotta be a sweet gig- Go to a couple meetings per year, and then sit back and count your money...

Answer 10

Right place right time. That is all. Notice that most of them only last a couple years and then are removed with compensation packages that set them up for life times ten. I can't say they do or do not work harder, some do some don't. I can't bash them for putting themselves in the right position. The only thing I can say is sharing is good. If one conservative was a christian they would live by the word of god in which non do. Remember the story of the lady with the little boy that came to church and gave her last cent to the collection, something similar to that.. yeah right, good luck finding any con that would even somewhat do that... I can't say the democrats are much better but at least they don't act like they are....