CEO Pay Soars As Worker Pay Stagnates

https://www.commondreams.org/view/2014/04/16-2



***SNIP


“A Rigged Game”

In The New York Times Tuesday Joe Nocera writes, in “C.E.O. Pay Goes Up, Up and Away!” that,

When the market fell after the financial crisis, many companies gave their chief executives big option grants to “make up for” what they’d lost. When performance measures were toughened, chief executives responded by demanding larger grants because they were taking more “risk.”

It’s a rigged game. When the company’s stock goes up, says Crystal, the chief executive views himself as a hero. And when it goes down, “it’s Janet Yellen’s or Barack Obama’s fault.”
Yes, it’s a rigged game. For CEOs it’s more and more and more pay. For regular people it’s:

Stagnant wages, with Republicans in Congress blocking an increase of the minimum wage.
Laws prohibiting cities and counties from raising the minimum wage in Republican states like Oklahoma.
Republicans in Congress obstructing restoring unemployment benefits for the long-term jobless.
The Paycheck Fairness Act, which addresses unequal pay between men and women, being filibustered by Senate Republicans.