Exec pay is way out of line, but the Fed is OK with that

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Between 1978 and 2021, according to new research from the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), CEO compensation at the 350 largest publicly traded U.S. companies rose by an inflation-adjusted 1,460%, far outstripping the 18.1% pay increase that the nation's typical worker saw during that period.

The trend of soaring CEO pay has continued during the coronavirus pandemic, which caused mass economic chaos and job loss among ordinary workers. EPI found that "while millions lost jobs in the first year of the pandemic and suffered real wage declines due to inflation in the second year, CEOs' realized compensation jumped 30.3% between 2019 and 2021."

"Typical worker compensation among those who remained employed rose 3.9% over the same time span," note EPI's Josh Bivens and Jori Kandra, the authors of the new report.

--snrp--

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, the world's most powerful central banker, has been forthright about the primary goals of rate hikes: A weaker labor market and lower wages. According to the Fed's own projections, rate increases could throw around 1.5 million people in the U.S. out of work by the end of next year.
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2022/ ... -1460-1978

Yes, it's from the whiners-in-chief, CommonDreams. But the facts are true. This is a gun board, and we can talk about root cause mitigation all we want, 'till we're blue in the face, as it were, but our entreaties will fall on deaf eyes because trickle-up economics will not allow the masses to have enough money not to want to do mass shootings.

OK, that was a bit harsh. Yet we cannot deny that supporting Fed policies that keep the poor poor, eviscerate the middle class, both at the enrichment of like 200 people, well, that's a recipe for total disaster.

It is true that the Fed is private, and that they represent, really, private interests. As The People, our only hope is the proper Fed chair who will work against that flurshinger trickle down economics myth. Share the wealth via proper policy. Everyone will be happy. Even Musk.

CDFingers
Crazy cat peekin' through a lace bandana
like a one-eyed Cheshire, like a diamond-eyed Jack

Re: Exec pay is way out of line, but the Fed is OK with that

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CD I deleted my same post on this topic as you beast me to it.

That 2% rate is not for the CEOs, but the workers helping to make the CEO’s outlandish salary. The goal of Powell and the Fed along with the Repugs and Wall Street is a return to the glory days of the Gilded Age of the Robber Barons.
Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.-Huxley
"We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can't have both." ~ Louis Brandeis,

Re: Exec pay is way out of line, but the Fed is OK with that

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Biden reappointed Powell for another 4 year term, he was initially appointed by Trump. Powell apparently is a disciple of Paul Volker appointed as Fed Chair by Jimmy Carter and reappointed by Reagan during our last period of high inflation. Volker was obsessed with reducing inflation that dominated the 1970s and early 1980s, he cut inflation by about 11% during his two terms. We're in another one of those inflation cycles, we all know it when we go to the grocery store, prices keep changing and they're going in only one direction.

Right now employers can't find enough workers and we still have supply chain problems. This is a different time, we might not get high unemployment like past times. Either way the federal government has to extend unemployment insurance benefits and expand SNAP (food stamps) in preparation.
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." - Daniel Patrick Moynihan

Re: Exec pay is way out of line, but the Fed is OK with that

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I have had a thought that a law stating "The highest paid employee's total compensation cannot exceed 300 times that of the lowest paid employee, or contractor functioning as an employee" would be a good start. Probably would need some wording to prevent gaming the system.

You want to make 300 million a year? OK, the new hire working on the factory floor has to make 1 million a year. You want to pay a $15 minumum wage? Ok, CEO compensation is capped at 9.3 million a year.

Re: Exec pay is way out of line, but the Fed is OK with that

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But the Repugs and Wall Street have a firm belief in the Trickle Down Theory of Economics. Well that has been proven wrong.
A huge study of 20 years of global wealth demolishes the myth of 'trickle-down' and shows the rich are taking most of the gains for themselves

The 2022 World Inequality Report, a huge undertaking coordinated by economic and inequality experts Lucas Chancel, Thomas Piketty, Emmanuel Saez, and Gabriel Zucman, was the product of four years of research and produced an unprecedented data set on just how wealth is distributed.

"The world is marked by a very high level of income inequality and an extreme level of wealth inequality," the authors wrote.

The data serves as a complete rebuke of the trickle-down economic theory, which posits that cutting taxes on the rich will "trickle down" to those below, with the cuts eventually benefiting everyone. In America, trickle-down was exemplified by President Ronald Reagan's tax slashes. It's a theory that persists today, even though most research has shown that 50 years of tax cuts benefits the wealthy and worsens inequality.
They argue in the new report that the last two decades of wealth data show that "inequality is a political choice, not an inevitability."

For instance, when it comes to wealth, which accounts for the values of assets people hold, researchers found that the "poorest half of the global population barely owns any wealth at all." That bottom half owns just 2% of total wealth. That means that the top half of the world holds 98% of the world's wealth, and that gets even more concentrated the wealthier you get.
Full article here: https://www.businessinsider.com/how-bad ... ts-2021-12

A study that shows just what we have known since the days of Ronnie Raygun and his BS advisor Grover Norquist. The only trickle-down we see is what's running down their pants leg when they don't get to the bathroom fast enough.
Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.-Huxley
"We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can't have both." ~ Louis Brandeis,

Re: Exec pay is way out of line, but the Fed is OK with that

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Sweden is a country of over 10 million people and they probably have the most wage equality of any nation. We're a country of roughly 330 million and I don't see Congress controlling executive pay in my lifetime. Different country and different system of government, they're a monarchy with a parliamentary government. I'd rather focus on things that are achievable, like expanding health care for all Americans.
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." - Daniel Patrick Moynihan

Re: Exec pay is way out of line, but the Fed is OK with that

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highdesert wrote: Tue Oct 04, 2022 8:37 pm Sweden is a country of over 10 million people and they probably have the most wage equality of any nation. We're a country of roughly 330 million and I don't see Congress controlling executive pay in my lifetime. Different country and different system of government, they're a monarchy with a parliamentary government. I'd rather focus on things that are achievable, like expanding health care for all Americans.
Wealth equality is not bad in Finland either, but I don’t think comparing us to other countries achieves anything in the end on some levels. We need to set our goals and push for them.
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"Resistance is futile. You will be assimilated!" Loquacious of many. Texas Chapter Chief Cat Herder.

Re: Exec pay is way out of line, but the Fed is OK with that

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Democracy is rooted in a concept of fundamental equality. The Founders were desperately afraid of that, being slave owners and all. So they set up a Republic to overthrow the Crown and old regime feudalism while maintaining their place in the socioeconomic hierarchy. Hence the current iteration of feudalism.

It increasingly becomes apparent to me that the reason Soviet Communism was so quickly established in the last country Marx thought amenable to a proletarian revolt was that all property effectively belonged to the state before the revolution as well as after. Power of all kinds was extremely centralized in the person of the tsar.

Good thing we don't let thieving billionaires run the show around here.

Re: Exec pay is way out of line, but the Fed is OK with that

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wings wrote: Fri Oct 07, 2022 7:09 am Democracy is rooted in a concept of fundamental equality. The Founders were desperately afraid of that, being slave owners and all. So they set up a Republic to overthrow the Crown and old regime feudalism while maintaining their place in the socioeconomic hierarchy. Hence the current iteration of feudalism.

It increasingly becomes apparent to me that the reason Soviet Communism was so quickly established in the last country Marx thought amenable to a proletarian revolt was that all property effectively belonged to the state before the revolution as well as after. Power of all kinds was extremely centralized in the person of the tsar.

Good thing we don't let thieving billionaires run the show around here.
WTF, Wings!!! You don't make comments like that during morning coffee !! JFC !! LOL
"Being Republican is more than a difference of opinion - it's a character flaw." "COVID can fix STUPID!"
The greatest, most aggrieved mistake EVER made in USA was electing DJT as POTUS.

Re: Exec pay is way out of line, but the Fed is OK with that

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Congress cannot and should not control Exec Pay. It should just tax the snot out of it. Use the money for food, housing, health care for those in need. Raise up the lowest, because the highest will be fine.

Let us recall that the Fed is a private corporation and all those banks are private corporations. As we recall, private corporations are immortal and may accrue assets for generations. They must be taxed now.

CDFingers
Crazy cat peekin' through a lace bandana
like a one-eyed Cheshire, like a diamond-eyed Jack

Re: Exec pay is way out of line, but the Fed is OK with that

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CDFingers wrote: Fri Oct 07, 2022 8:37 am Congress cannot and should not control Exec Pay. It should just tax the snot out of it. Use the money for food, housing, health care for those in need. Raise up the lowest, because the highest will be fine.

Let us recall that the Fed is a private corporation and all those banks are private corporations. As we recall, private corporations are immortal and may accrue assets for generations. They must be taxed now.

CDFingers
Yep, 90 plus percent tax is fine by me for multimillionaires.
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Image

"Resistance is futile. You will be assimilated!" Loquacious of many. Texas Chapter Chief Cat Herder.

Re: Exec pay is way out of line, but the Fed is OK with that

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sikacz wrote: Fri Oct 07, 2022 1:26 pm
CDFingers wrote: Fri Oct 07, 2022 8:37 am Congress cannot and should not control Exec Pay. It should just tax the snot out of it. Use the money for food, housing, health care for those in need. Raise up the lowest, because the highest will be fine.

Let us recall that the Fed is a private corporation and all those banks are private corporations. As we recall, private corporations are immortal and may accrue assets for generations. They must be taxed now.

CDFingers
Yep, 90 plus percent tax is fine by me for multimillionaires.
So is the Fed private or public?

The answer is both. While the Board of Governors is an independent government agency, the Federal Reserve Banks are set up like private corporations. Member banks hold stock in the Federal Reserve Banks and earn dividends.
https://www.stlouisfed.org/in-plain-eng ... dividends.

The Bank of England was the worlds first central bank founded in 1694, originally private it is now public. Unofficially called "The Old Lady of Threadneedle Street" where it's located. Americans didn't want a central bank, but had to deal with bank runs so the fed was created. Now it's the most powerful "bank" in the world.
https://www.investopedia.com/articles/e ... eserve.asp

I have no problem with increasing taxes on millionaires, but focus on the billionaires.
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." - Daniel Patrick Moynihan

Re: Exec pay is way out of line, but the Fed is OK with that

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Corporatism is the name given to a marriage between private capital and government. Add a racial/religious/other component to it and you get fascism.

However, if you add instead to corporatism a generous safety net that includes aid to the poor, and education, health care, retirement, transportation, and energy, you get social democracy.

CDFingers
Crazy cat peekin' through a lace bandana
like a one-eyed Cheshire, like a diamond-eyed Jack

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