The historic UAW strike puts an exclamation point on more than a decade of efforts by Washington lawmakers to narrow the pay gap between top executives and workers.

  • guyrocket@kbin.social
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    1 year ago

    And between 1978 and 2021, executive compensation at large American companies increased by more than 1,400 percent, the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute said.

    This is really the problem. No one can convince me that being a CEO is 1400% more difficult now.

      • Final Remix@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Presentation of that math does. I’d wager you could take one or two off years in that trend and say “look! No increase. Y’all are worried about nothing.”

          • Final Remix@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            Believe me, I’m extremely fuckin’ aware. The guy above me said math isn’t political. And that’s true. But the presentation of the results is, however. The “left leaning” specification helps show who’s presenting the data, as opposed to a right, corporate, or other spin on the presentation.

            Companies, hell whole industries, regularly misrepresent data to make a point and further that gap, or otherwise increase profits, etc.

            • MountainReason@lemmy.world
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              1 year ago

              Also it seems like the definition of “executive compensation” is ambiguous and could be calculated in different ways. So the data could differ too.

    • wavebeam@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Had the shower-thought today: there are not enough reports of CEO suicides. Like, I assume the thing they’ll tell you about their job is that it’s hard to handle the stress of holding so many people’s livelihoods in your hands. But I don’t ever see CEOs getting fired for too many layoffs, and when they do get fired it kinda doesn’t matter because they’re so rich it doesn’t matter much. If it were true that it’s a difficult thing to handle, in any way that at all relates to the working class struggle, you think it’d have a high suicide rate. But it doesn’t…

    • SCB@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Jobs aren’t paid based on how difficult or stressful they are

        • AmosBurton_ThatGuy@lemmy.ca
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          1 year ago

          Retail in a nutshell. Get treated like shit but if you dare say something that could possibly be considered even mildly offensive, let alone stand up for yourself then you’re the bad guy and get all the blame.

          So glad I got out of that, everyone should have to work retail for at least half a year to develop a bit of empathy. The bullshit you have to put up with on a near daily basis for poverty wages is fucking abysmal.

      • Final Remix@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Well they’re certainly not based on what value they bring, either, except maybe to themselves and the ever-useless shareholders.

        • SCB@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          If the people paying did not believe they were getting their money’s worth, they would stop paying that much. The problem is, the ceiling is set by whoever can realistically pay the most.

          My entire point is that CEOs are obviously overvalued, due to the ability of extremely large firms to pay exorbitant salaries via stock. This creates a negative ripple downstream that hurts a lot of smaller businesses.

          • JoBo@feddit.uk
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            1 year ago

            If the people paying did not believe they were getting their money’s worth, they would stop paying that much.

            No they wouldn’t. They’re the same people as get paid that much elsewhere. They have no incentive to lower the bar.

                • SCB@lemmy.world
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                  1 year ago

                  Competing firms and to a lesser extent the CEOs themselves, all have input. It’s a market.

                  • JoBo@feddit.uk
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                    1 year ago

                    It’s nothing like a market. Who do you imagine the individuals are who set the CEOs pay, and how do you think their pay is decided?

      • Evie @lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Is that why doctor are so under paid/s they aren’t based on skill or education?

        • SCB@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          Doctors are highly paid because they are scarce. You’ll note that surgeons in the UK, as an example, make about a third or less of what a US surgeon makes.

          Our residency system, coincidentally, induces artificial scarcity of doctors