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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsJimmy Carter: The U.S. Is an "Oligarchy With Unlimited Political Bribery"
Former president Jimmy Carter said Tuesday on the nationally-syndicated radio show The Thom Hartmann Program that the United States is now an “oligarchy” in which “unlimited political bribery” has created “a complete subversion of our political system as a payoff to major contributors.” Both Democrats and Republicans, Carter said, “look upon this unlimited money as a great benefit to themselves.”
Carter was responding to a question from Hartmann about recent Supreme Court decisions on campaign financing like Citizens United.
Transcript:
HARTMANN: Our Supreme Court has now said, “unlimited money in politics.” It seems like a violation of principles of democracy … your thoughts on that?
CARTER: It violates the essence of what made America a great country in its political system. Now it’s just an oligarchy, with unlimited political bribery being the essence of getting the nominations for president or to elect the president. And the same thing applies to governors and U.S. senators and congressmembers. So now we’ve just seen a complete subversion of our political system as a payoff to major contributors, who want and expect and sometimes get favors for themselves after the election’s over … The incumbents, Democrats and Republicans, look upon this unlimited money as a great benefit to themselves. Somebody’s who’s already in Congress has a lot more to sell to an avid contributor than somebody’s who’s just a challenger.
https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2015/07/30/jimmy-carter-u-s-oligarchy-unlimited-political-bribery/
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Uncle Joe
(58,524 posts)Thanks for the thread, Ichingcarpenter.
newthinking
(3,982 posts)It is destroying most democracies across the globe. Leaders feel "entitled" to be part of a super rich ultra class of citizen. Democracy cannot function that way. It is a conflict to use the privilege of leadership in a democracy to personally enrich oneself.
Uncle Joe
(58,524 posts)as compared to some other nations.
newthinking
(3,982 posts)The idea that it is not bribery if they wait for the money in a prolonged quid pro quo, or if they allow external contracting to lubricate the money to friends (although that is a mechanism that used to be seen as direct corruption.)
Uncle Joe
(58,524 posts)thanks to the U.S. Supreme Court.
newthinking
(3,982 posts)That just threw off the remaining block. But our politicians were already way too corrupted even before CU.
Personally I am getting more and more to a view that we may be better off reducing the scope of our federal government and moving more taxing authority to states. From my view my money gets much better use (and more attention is given to the people) at the state level. I wonder how we can regain control of the federal government, but state governments are within our grasp. While there are many problems in state governments they still are much closer to people and have to respond if people protest enough.
But then I don't live in Texas either....
Uncle Joe
(58,524 posts)and complex requiring a national or even international response, global warming being just one example.
More powerful states pursuing their own agendas, pulling in different directions against an emasculated federal government would make meaningful, progressive impacts even more difficult to accomplish.
The states are closer to the their people but the federal government is closer to the world at large and in a better position to deal with macro issues, some people don't like to admit it but at 7 billion people, the Internet and even flying cars on the horizon, the world is becoming a smaller place, we have to learn to get along.
Enthusiast
(50,983 posts)
No wonder this country is in such a mess.
It's corruption from sea to shining sea.
Uncle Joe
(58,524 posts)It is ugly, but I can't help but to believe that will start changing for the better, the people are waking up.
Enthusiast
(50,983 posts)Eleanors38
(18,318 posts)hifiguy
(33,688 posts)I wanna do a little background and have a link/cite before I circulate this to some people I know. You can pm me if you wish.
Uncle Joe
(58,524 posts)I have seen it before, but I don't remember the publication.
hifiguy
(33,688 posts)Uncle Joe
(58,524 posts)
appalachiablue
(41,199 posts)Uncle Joe
(58,524 posts)I posted.
Of course there is more detailed information on all the links listed below.
The Economic Policy Institue.
http://www.epi.org/publication/ceo-pay-2012-extraordinarily-high/
Using the same measure of options-realized CEO pay, the CEO-to-worker compensation ratio was 20.1-to-1 in 1965 and 29.0-to-1 in 1978, grew to 122.6-to-1 in 1995, peaked at 383.4-to-1 in 2000, and was 272.9-to-1 in 2012, far higher than it was in the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, or 1990s.
Measured with options granted, CEOs earned 18.3 times more than typical workers in 1965 and 26.5 times more in 1978; the ratio grew to 136.8-to-1 in 1995 and peaked at 411.3-to-1 in 2000. In 2012, CEO pay was 202.3 times more than typical worker pay, far higher than it was in the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, or 1990s.
The Globalist
http://www.theglobalist.com/just-facts-ceos-rest-us/
1.On average, the CEOs of large U.S. companies received $12.3 million in compensation in 2012, based on an analysis of S&P 500 companies.
2. Given that the average American worker earned $34,645 in 2012, the typical U.S. CEO earns 354 times what the average worker does.
3. Put another way, the average U.S. CEO took home about $5,894 in pay for every hour of work last year (based on 52 40-hour weeks).
4. By comparison, the average U.S. worker pocketed $16.66 an hour — while a worker at minimum wage earned $7.25.
5. A worker at the U.S. minimum wage would have to work 813 hours — or 20 weeks — to earn an hour’s worth of CEO pay.
Forbes
http://www.forbes.com/sites/kathryndill/2014/04/15/report-ceos-earn-331-times-as-much-as-average-workers-774-times-as-much-as-minimum-wage-earners/
Report: CEOs Earn 331 Times As Much As Average Workers, 774 Times As Much As Minimum Wage Earners
With CEO compensation analysis season in full swing, the AFL-CIO released data this morning stating that American CEOs in 2013 earned an average of $11.7 million–an eye-popping 331 times the average worker’s $35,293.
Though down from 2012?s 354-to-1 CEO-to-worker pay ratio, the multiple more than doubles when compared to minimum wage workers; the average CEO in 2013 out-earned this group 774 times over.
The AFL-CIO
http://www.aflcio.org/Corporate-Watch/Paywatch-2014%20
In 2013 the CEO-to-worker pay ratio was 331:1 and the CEO-to-minimum-wage-worker pay ratio was 774:1. America is supposed to be the land of opportunity, a country where hard work and playing by the rules would provide working families a middle-class standard of living. But in recent decades, corporate CEOs have been taking a greater share of the economic pie while wages have stagnated and unemployment remains high.
Highly paid CEOs of low-wage employers are fueling this growing economic inequality. In 2013, CEOs of the Standard & Poor’s (S&P) 500 Index companies received, on average, $11.7 million in total compensation, according to the AFL-CIO’s analysis of available data from 350 companies.
Regarding that specific chart which I posted. I found this Tampa Bay Times article which disputes the numbers as being that high except on two occaisions when it was stated as actually being higher. Regardless CEO to worker pay is still in the stratsophere, even by the other sources which they cite especially compared to what they were in the 60s, 70s and 80s
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2011/oct/10/facebook-posts/viral-facebook-post-ceo-worker-pay-ratio-has-obscu/
The paper’s cover sheet fooled us -- as it fooled others -- because the professor’s name appears in the middle of the page, and the three students’ names appear together at the bottom in a less prominent spot. We tried to reach the co-authors -- Adam Choate, Dana Rowzee and Jerrod Tinsley, all of whom were working on their Master of Business Administration in 2005 -- but we did not hear back.
The most recent chart from the Economic Policy Institute shows a ratio of 185 to 1 for 2009. According to the group’s calculations, the peak since the mid 1960s was almost 299 to 1. But it was never as high as high as 475 to 1.
Meanwhile, the most recent ratio from the Institute for Policy Studies is also smaller -- for 2010, it was 325 to 1. In previous years the ratio on two occasions has exceeded 475 to 1 -- to be specific, 516 to 1 in 1999 and 525 to 1 in 2000.
But in its claim that the U.S. ratio is 475 to 1, the chart conveys a sense of certitude and statistical precision that simply isn't warranted -- and which is contradicted by the facts. The latest number for the U.S. is 185 to 1 in one study and 325 to 1 in another -- and those numbers were not generated by groups that might have an ideological interest in downplaying the gaps between rich and poor. We rate the claim on the U.S. ratio False.
appalachiablue
(41,199 posts)compensation and taxed at a lower rate beginning with Reagan helped fuel much of the new disparity. Then the end of unions, pensions, US deindustrialization and move to low wage service economy. People became very comfortable with the enhanced compensation arrangements and we see where it's led. Those benefitting and dependent for decades are unwilling to let loose of any of that 'hard earned' justified income. Same for the Investor Class that's been profiting immensely for years.
I once had to attend a Dec. holiday event at a financial assn. VP's home for their staff. It was suggested I chat with a VP's spouse who was a substitute history teacher and a new father of an adopted young son. After introducing myself and asking about those topics the man nonchalantly commented that he was actually focused on the company's stock values. Later I learned that exec. level employees received info. about their stock bonuses at that time.
(In the 90s friends in Seattle mentioned a nice guy they knew who was a HS history teacher with two degrees. In summers for extra income he would clean carpets at large, expensive homes of single, tech co. junior execs. who had no spouse or children, were rarely home and when they were trashed the places like pig stys).
Incredible what a person would say to a stranger about stock prices at a social event. Another time a retired US Congressman at a casual summer neighborhood picnic went on like a craven loon to an employee of a company with higher stock prices, saying repeatedly that he wished he was there, rather than his current board position with a very similar and successful institution. The greed never ends, and pigs gonna be pigs.
Onlooker
(5,636 posts)Whatever rewrite to history Carter longs for, the fact remains he was an awful president. One of the reasons how he helped cause the second worst recession since the 1930s was that he was great union buster, destroying thousands of not tens of thousands of good paying jobs. It is Carter who deregulated the trucking and rail industries, which dramatically weakened the labor unions and hurt the the incomes of the American people.
still_one
(92,502 posts)Labor voting for reagan was like jumping from the frying pan into the fire.
However, to be fair Carter did NOT cause the recession, that was caused by Alan Greenspan who raised interest rates too high.
I agree with you that Carter's domestic policies had a lot to be desired. His foreign policy was mixed.
Was he an awful president? I not sure if I would characterize him that way. In my view he was pretty mediocre though
JDPriestly
(57,936 posts)inflation in the aftermath of two major oil crises, one in 1973-74 and another under the Carter administration, both caused by Middle Eastern countries wanting more money for their irreplaceable resource, oil.
still_one
(92,502 posts)not helpful in the path toward energy independence, and that was on both sides of the aisle from what I remember.
Even increasing improving gas millage on cars was like pulling teeth
JDPriestly
(57,936 posts)Rex
(65,616 posts)Decade after decade we let Congress get a free ride. Needs to stop.
Taitertots
(7,745 posts)Deflationary policies are not the appropriate response to exogenous shocks to resource prices.
zeemike
(18,998 posts)It was caused by speculators...
I was working for a plant at the time that fired their boilers with natural gas..which at the time was so plentiful that it was not economical to bring a well on line...we shut down the plant while we converted the boilers to burn oil, which we did thought the "crisis".
And they did that because there were tankers full of oil at anchor in the Gulf of Mexico waiting to unload at a storage facility that was full...I knew a ship's captain that told me that.
We were the victims of market manipulation and still are today.
Duval
(4,280 posts)Carter is smart and honest. I think he was a good President.
hatrack
(59,602 posts)Greenspan didn't become Fed chairman until 1987.
still_one
(92,502 posts)and I actually like Volcker
hatrack
(59,602 posts)"The only useful banking innovation was the invention of the ATM."
still_one
(92,502 posts)hifiguy
(33,688 posts)and NOT a blind follower of Milton Friedman and Ayn Rand. And brudda, that comment is right on the nose.
thesquanderer
(12,000 posts)...his legacy wuld be quite different. And he might well have won a second term.
JDPriestly
(57,936 posts)cause economic problems. Vote for Bernie.
Duval
(4,280 posts)hifiguy
(33,688 posts)I joke.
jwirr
(39,215 posts)
hifiguy
(33,688 posts)He's a good and decent man,and his post-Presidency years have been a model for all, but his tendency while president to listen to U of Chicago economists, diss labor and his very half-hearted support of reproductive rights deserve to be remembered.
Jimmy Carter has grown greatly in the last 35 years and is worthy of admiration.
jwirr
(39,215 posts)power. Too nice.
XRubicon
(2,213 posts)Oh yeah, I remember when he said corporations are people and money is free speech. Give it up non sequitur.
ronnie624
(5,764 posts)the most expensive covert operation in history, fomenting extremism and violence there, that soon after, lead to disaster for that country.
davidpdx
(22,000 posts)If anyone thinks electing someone who is a status quo candidate will change things, then they will be in for a huge disappointment.
Ichingcarpenter
(36,988 posts)More power, more wealth and less restrictions on their behavior.
They don't give up that advantage willingly.
JDPriestly
(57,936 posts)He is not bought. He has not sold himself for bribery.
That's one of the main things we like about him.
I hope I shall possess firmness and virtue enough to maintain what I consider the most enviable of all titles, the character of an honest man.
George Washington
https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AwrTHRFtJ7tVdhEA8MdXNyoA;_ylu=X3oDMTByM3V1YTVuBGNvbG8DZ3ExBHBvcwMzBHZ0aWQDBHNlYwNzcg--?qid=20090217172934AA4HIAd&p=george%20washington%20I%20hope%20I%20shall%20possess%20honest%20man
global1
(25,294 posts)They know what they are getting. That's why they are considered the frontrunners. Elect either one of them and we get more of the same we got under the previous Bush & Clinton regimes.
Obama kind of threw in a monkey wrench in their plan and now TPTB are doing everything they can to make sure they get back to their plan.
Again they didn't figure on a guy like Bernie getting involved. They didn't figure on the People being so pissed off at the treatment we've been getting to want a guy like Bernie to save us. That's why they will do anything in their power to ignore Bernie in the MSM or discredit him as a Socialist, a cranky old man or a kook.
The rest of the Clown Car candidates are just a distraction and insurance by TPTB to aid in the People coming to support the so called saner candidates like Jeb or Hillary.
hifiguy
(33,688 posts)He immediately threw labor under the bus, appointed top Wall Street arsonists to save the banksters from themselves and the people, while leaving the latter to slowly die on the vine, and rammed through TPP and its even more toxic companion agreements.
The plutocrats have been superbly served by Barack Obama, and his rewards will start rolling in the day after he leaves the WH, just as they did for the corrupt and duplicitous Clintons.
billhicks76
(5,082 posts)Anyone whose small mind and rigid belief system cannot handle that Bush Sr worships evil and that Clinton is as much of a lackey as his son can well...frankly...go back and bury their head in the sand. Pathetic at this juncture.
dougolat
(716 posts)...( and bio-fuels from weeds and waste, not corn) things would be very different now.
But the oil profiteers mobilized and subverted the very thought.
Duval
(4,280 posts)the White House, and Reagan took them down. Thanks for jogging my memory, dougolat.
Scuba
(53,475 posts)
Divernan
(15,480 posts)Bill Clinton is particularly offensive & obvious with the physical distance he's placed between himself and Carter. It's like some junior high yearbook photo. The 4 self-defined cool kids jammed into each other with shoulders overlapping each other - so they can establish physical distance between themselves and the wonky nerd.
Hey Bill! Just a little reminder - you're the ex-president who physically defiled the Oval Office and got impeached as a result of lying under oath about your out-of-control libido. You're in no moral or ethical position to snub a thoroughly decent man like Jimmy Carter!
Hydra
(14,459 posts)Those four on the left are now "Family." The new Bushco/DLC Dynasty. Carter is of another time, literally.
jwirr
(39,215 posts) hifiguy
(33,688 posts)and Jimmy Carter
I think we got rooked somewhere along the line, Lefty......
Rex
(65,616 posts)History will be a lot kinder to President Carter than the people in that picture, except for President Obama imo. President Clinton, W will be marred with social scandals and Poppy will forever be looked at as a slimeball war profiteer and possibly DT/JFK.
appalachiablue
(41,199 posts)take an official photo like this. It's so clearly lacking in harmony in human terms and composition.
L0oniX
(31,493 posts)
malaise
(269,278 posts)I love Jimmy Carter
rhett o rick
(55,981 posts)that the progressives like Carter and Hartmann but the non-progressive don't.
WillyT
(72,631 posts)
former9thward
(32,136 posts)I hope he is doing well.
KoKo
(84,711 posts)What a disaster he had. They couldn't treat him locally so he came back here and went through long course of antibiotics but still has a painful rash that has to be constantly treated.
He sounded in good spirits in the talk I heard from him last week posted out on the Net. But, he had a close call.
former9thward
(32,136 posts)I doubt I will get to his age but if I do I hope to look as good as him!
KoKo
(84,711 posts)
Arugula Latte
(50,566 posts)closeupready
(29,503 posts)the profession is the most powerful public office in the world and the club the most exclusive of all is something a former president would do ONLY if the problem posed a threat to our very democracy.
Octafish
(55,745 posts)By: DSWright
FireDogLake.com, Wednesday January 21, 2015
While there may be confusion among some in the US as to how the American political system operates, it is apparently taken for granted by participants at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland that politics in America is based on bribery and corruption.
In an interview at Davos with Bloomberg News related to growing concerns about rising wealth inequality and its corruption influence on American politics economist and NYU business professor Nouriel Roubini stated as a matter of fact that it would be hard for the US to overcome wealth inequality because the US political system was based on “legalized corruption” which meant rich people – having more resources to bribe politicians with – would generally prevail.
Tom Keene, Bloomberg: How big is the plutocracy effect in 2015?
Nouriel Roubini: It’s significant because we are in a democracy where it supposedly has to be one man, one vote, but the reality is that those who are billionaires, those that have economic and financial power can affect legislation on taxation of capital gains, of carried interest by having that political power.
In the US we have a system of legalized corruption if you think about it. K Street and the lobbying affect legislation with the money they give the politician and therefore those who have financial resources have a greater impact on the political system than those who have less. So it’s not a true democracy, it’s a plutocracy.
This is not news to anyone paying attention. In fact, Princeton University produced an exhaustive study that made headlines demonstrating that the wealthy ultimately determine legislative outcomes in the US Congress. Add to that an experiment the progressive group CREDO and UC Berkeley ran where they offered meetings to representatives with either actual constituents or non-constituent donors with the representatives overwhelmingly choosing the donors and you certainly have a picture of a cynical system run on cash.
CONTINUED w/links...
http://news.firedoglake.com/2015/01/21/taken-for-granted-at-davos-that-us-government-run-on-legalized-corruption/#at_pco=cfd-1.0&at_ab=-&at_pos=7&at_tot=8&at_si=54c5412562e4586b
Rex
(65,616 posts)it has to be up to them to decide on reviewing the facts or keeping their heads buried in the sand.
Octafish
(55,745 posts)And when the austerity hits the fan, they've planned for the big round up.
They want us to believe resistance is futile, but the reality is somewhere along the Poland 1980 model.
Rex
(65,616 posts)So too will families that already lost it all to Wall Street banksters over the decades and it will all fall directly on what is left of a middle class. The D.C. Bubble Babies are completely lost. No wonder Congress is such a fucking worthless mess.
hifiguy
(33,688 posts)World conquest without firing a shot. Leaves all the real estate undamaged, intact, and nice, big pools of soon-to-be-slave labor to exploit.
This shit all started back with the failed coup against FDR. And the same people are STILL running it, most notably Bushes and Kochs. Why didn't we pay attention to Smedley Butler?
newthinking
(3,982 posts)closeupready
(29,503 posts)Rex
(65,616 posts)Thank you for saying it Mr. President!
ladjf
(17,320 posts)in America has clearly diagnosed our political disease. What are we going to do about it? What could we do about it?
Smarmie Doofus
(14,498 posts)Our most effective and productive ex-president. ( Maybe EVER. i.e. in all of US history.)
Living proof that real wisdom comes w. age. ( In some cases , anyway.)
And I guess partly it's that he doesn't need to hold his tongue anymore.
Mnemosyne
(21,363 posts)
lark
(23,191 posts)Best.American.president.in.my.lifetime.
Enthusiast
(50,983 posts)This country is a fucking mess.
Eleanors38
(18,318 posts)In an interview with Jim Lehrer of PBS, he described the GOP as "extremist." Lehrer was flabbergasted and interrupted to get clarification. Carter confirmed his statement. Lehrer was amazed, not at the description, but at the phenomenon of hearing it from a former president on MSM. Those things were not spoken of in polite political company.
haikugal
(6,476 posts)
ymetca
(1,182 posts)of attempts to constrain the 1% from maintaining their global control stems from our inability to establish a true, one-person-one-vote Global Direct Democracy. We are just now waking up to the means by which to achieve this, for the first time in human history. The fabled (and constantly demonized) "One World Government".
Dividing the planet into nation-states, and now "corporations" was always a tactic of, by, and for the rich --the royals, the robber barons, the spice traders, the oil oligarchs, etc., etc., and their myriad hired lackeys in charge of oppressing the masses. This is primarily why so many on the Right consider government employees nothing but "leeches", despite the fact that most are simply trying to keep the rube goldberg contraption of "representative government" from continually going off the rails.
The enemy of Democracy is "Representation". No one "represents" me. "Representation" is just a vestigial appendage of the horse and buggy era; a stop-gap measure concocted in the pre-electricity, pre-global telecommunications past when whale-oil was an essential commodity, along with our fellow "3/5th" human beings.
The enemy of Democracy is Hierarchy... those crumbling pyramids that dot the landscapes of our past, but which we just can't help ourselves from trying to re-erect over and over again, with our mega-cities and skyscrapers and our latest Donald Trump diversions. I am sure it has something to do with our misguided desire for planetary escape velocity. The male desire to escape the "womb planet", or some such demon from our collective unconscious. Fire all of your guns boys / Explode into space.
"Everybody wants to rule the world" --a cartoonish cry, in fact. Much like Marlon Brando says in Last Tango in Paris:
Then it won't be long until he'll want you to build a fortress for him
out of your tits and your cunt and your hair
and your smile and the way you smell.
And... and some place where he can feel comfortable and secure enough
so that he can worship in front of the altar of his own prick.
99th_Monkey
(19,326 posts)
Progressive dog
(6,931 posts)hifiguy
(33,688 posts)dime the banksters and the for-profit prison industry, among others, throw at her. You will pardon my profound and bone-deep skepticism.
Response to Ichingcarpenter (Original post)
Name removed Message auto-removed
Gloria
(17,663 posts)It waiting for it to happen...like, NOW!
senseandsensibility
(17,215 posts)a photo in the oval office of former Presidents in which both Clinton and Obama seemed to be avoiding standing next to or talking with Carter, but had all kinds of positive body language with both bushes. 
hifiguy
(33,688 posts)are all members of the same neoliberal clubof once and future plutocrats and their enablers. Jimmy Carter is definitely not, and as such is persona non grata.
ericson00
(2,707 posts)aside from the solar panels on the WH he tried, I can't think of anything good that came out of his presidency. (no he was not responsible for Camp David: Dennis Ross and David Makovsky debunked that in "Myths, Illusions, and Peace."
Dems shoulda nominated Scoop Jackson instead back in '76.
Uncle Joe
(58,524 posts)doesn't in one form or another bribe and corrupt our democratic processes?
ericson00
(2,707 posts)he does seem to say things in recent years just to get into headlines.
Uncle Joe
(58,524 posts)ericson00
(2,707 posts)its in horrible taste.
Uncle Joe
(58,524 posts)
sibelian
(7,804 posts)Enough of "taste", I say, if you've a criticism, please make it.
Uncle Joe
(58,524 posts)Regardless of perceptions of taste, is he incorrect?
ericson00
(2,707 posts)and Zimbabwe are. The US may have some wealth distribution issues, as do other democracies, but we are not an oligarchy. So yes, while Carter may have a point on special interests influence, on the big picture, whether America is an oligarchy, he is wrong. Dead wrong.
Uncle Joe
(58,524 posts)combined with the recent Supreme Court's decision of Citizens United unleashing limitless money from those at the very top of the food chain into politics and further mixed with the fact that only a handful of mega-corporations control 90+% of the mass media; televison, radio and publishing.
Would those dynamics taken together adversely affect our democratic processes, ie; greatly magnifying bribery and corruption while also placing the dollar in a preeminent position over that of actual speech?
The Economic Policy Institue.
http://www.epi.org/publication/ceo-pay-2012-extraordinarily-high/
Using the same measure of options-realized CEO pay, the CEO-to-worker compensation ratio was 20.1-to-1 in 1965 and 29.0-to-1 in 1978, grew to 122.6-to-1 in 1995, peaked at 383.4-to-1 in 2000, and was 272.9-to-1 in 2012, far higher than it was in the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, or 1990s.
Measured with options granted, CEOs earned 18.3 times more than typical workers in 1965 and 26.5 times more in 1978; the ratio grew to 136.8-to-1 in 1995 and peaked at 411.3-to-1 in 2000. In 2012, CEO pay was 202.3 times more than typical worker pay, far higher than it was in the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, or 1990s.
The Globalist
http://www.theglobalist.com/just-facts-ceos-rest-us/
1.On average, the CEOs of large U.S. companies received $12.3 million in compensation in 2012, based on an analysis of S&P 500 companies.
2. Given that the average American worker earned $34,645 in 2012, the typical U.S. CEO earns 354 times what the average worker does.
3. Put another way, the average U.S. CEO took home about $5,894 in pay for every hour of work last year (based on 52 40-hour weeks).
4. By comparison, the average U.S. worker pocketed $16.66 an hour — while a worker at minimum wage earned $7.25.
5. A worker at the U.S. minimum wage would have to work 813 hours — or 20 weeks — to earn an hour’s worth of CEO pay.
Forbes
http://www.forbes.com/sites/kathryndill/2014/04/15/report-ceos-earn-331-times-as-much-as-average-workers-774-times-as-much-as-minimum-wage-earners/
Report: CEOs Earn 331 Times As Much As Average Workers, 774 Times As Much As Minimum Wage Earners
With CEO compensation analysis season in full swing, the AFL-CIO released data this morning stating that American CEOs in 2013 earned an average of $11.7 million–an eye-popping 331 times the average worker’s $35,293.
Though down from 2012?s 354-to-1 CEO-to-worker pay ratio, the multiple more than doubles when compared to minimum wage workers; the average CEO in 2013 out-earned this group 774 times over.
The AFL-CIO
http://www.aflcio.org/Corporate-Watch/Paywatch-2014%20
In 2013 the CEO-to-worker pay ratio was 331:1 and the CEO-to-minimum-wage-worker pay ratio was 774:1. America is supposed to be the land of opportunity, a country where hard work and playing by the rules would provide working families a middle-class standard of living. But in recent decades, corporate CEOs have been taking a greater share of the economic pie while wages have stagnated and unemployment remains high.
Highly paid CEOs of low-wage employers are fueling this growing economic inequality. In 2013, CEOs of the Standard & Poor’s (S&P) 500 Index companies received, on average, $11.7 million in total compensation, according to the AFL-CIO’s analysis of available data from 350 companies.
hifiguy
(33,688 posts)Looks like the crickets have come in early tonight....
hifiguy
(33,688 posts)than the actual truth that President Carter is speaking, I suppose.
Jayzus Haploid Kee-rist.
Juicy_Bellows
(2,427 posts)I think I'll crack some peanuts and feel the Bern from a mild nut allergy.
