A group of 81 major corporations believe that public knowledge of what their CEOs make in respect to the average worker is “useless” information. The Washington Post reports that more than a year ago (H/T Alternet), some of America’s biggest corporate movers and shakers began lobbying Congress to force changes to the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, so companies needn’t bother disclose the wage gulf between executives and workers. A House committee approved the bill 33–21.
Rep. Nan A.S. Hayworth (R-NY), who sponsored The Burdensome Data Collection Relief Act (HR1062), said comparing a CEO’s wage to the average worker could “mislead or confuse investors” and that such a comparison “creates heat but sheds no light.” Tim Bartl, senior vice president and general counsel for the Center on Executive Compensation asked “You can already tell where a CEO falls relative to his peers, you can already tell where he falls relative to the average worker in the industry. What is this number going to tell us?”
That comparison tells Americans quite a bit, actually.
CEO’s of major corporations currently make about 263 times what the average worker makes. In 2008, the top 0.1 percent of earners raked in 10 percent of the total income of American workers. The pay of the average woman or man on the street hasn’t seen an increase when adjusted for cost of living since the 70′s. The idea that “the rich get richer” became a truism long ago.
Read the full post at Diatribe Media
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