I am not a communist or a socialist. I’m an idealist -- a Populist -- one of the hardcore believers who thinks the first responsibility of government is to look after the interests of all the people. Commitment to their welfare is the sole factor that legitimizes the right to govern.
After eight years of Republican in-your-face lying and breathtaking incompetence, we learn once again that all men are not created equal. How equal we are depends on who controls the Whitehouse and Congress.
The Republicans have shown us they don’t buy into the concept of “One for all, and all for one.” Their passion is money and their creed is, “If you have money – real money - it’s the super rich for all the super rich.”
No matter how some smooth talker tries to slide it by, when I hear the phrase “trickle down economics”, it sounds like unacceptable class distinctions are being made. When I remember that one-percent of Americans own more than fifty-percent of the stocks on Wall Street, and I put that together with “trickle down economics,” I see an image of loose change being brushed off a table and on to a carpet where the help can gather it up for themselves.
The Wall Street meltdown and housing collapse of 2008 pulled the curtain back on how lavishly corporate and banking businesses unjustifiably reward their executives and enrich their CEO’s. The AFL-CIO has released the facts on its web site www.aflcio.org/corporatewatch/paywatch where the annual salary of the 100 highest paid CEO’s are printed. The top money maker is Bruce Wasserstein of Lazard Ltd for 2008: $133,708,650.; Lawrence J. Ellison, Oracle Corporation, 2008: $84,598,700; Mario J. Gabelli, 2007, GAMCO Investors, Inc.: $70,931,633; Richard C. Adkerson, 2007, Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold, Inc.: $67,817,112; Leslie Moonves, 2007 CBS Corporation, $67,734,016.
The next ten CEO’s received a low of $41 million to a high of $57 million. The next ten rose from a low of $30 million to $38 million. The following forty-seven ranged from $21 million to $29 million. The last twenty-four went from $20 million down to $17 million.
You have to wonder what supreme knowledge and set of super skills these CEO’s have that make them worthy of such massive compensation. Given the many mysteries of the IRS code, how much in real tax dollars is paid on their income? After the amount paid to executive level management is added to that of its CEO’s, what percentage of the company’s gross profit is it? Net profit?
The comeback argument is that what CEO’s are paid is no one’s business except theirs and that of the stockholders. But should this rebuttal be passively accepted when the country is so strapped that it can’t afford the goods and services it needs right now? And why should workers’ wages and benefits continue to erode while corporate management is having their pay delivered in armored cars?
Is it reasonable that the stock market should be the money machine of a select few when needed public works projects get shelved? Schools, roads and bridges go on lacking maintenance? That environmental concerns get back-burnered while the medical and drug needs of the low income elderly and homeless are left unaddressed? With the national debt about to pass $11 trillion, why isn’t there a call for an economic public duty and sense of nationalism that goes beyond thinking that paying the minimum income tax due is our only responsibility to our country at this time?
If those of us who could afford it contributed more, would the government be willing to find creative ways to use future tax credits or new tax incentives to offset future taxes paid today?
The gap between former middle class Americans who can no longer meet basic needs and the wealthy ones inhabiting the top tiers of society is widening faster than before. In 2004, the average family income, adjusted for inflation was $70,700. The median income level was $43,200. Half the families earned more than $43,200 and the other half made less. How long will those standing on the lower rungs of society forego their needs and comforts while the rich get richer? [Note: The above figures are from an MSNBC.com story by the Associated Press, “Average American Income Declines”, February 23, 2006. The accuracy of the Associated Press numbers are supported by the U.S. Bureau of the Census which reported the median annual income for a four-person family in 2005 was $67,019. The Associated Press did not indicate the size of the family in its 2004 story.]
When CEO compensation is compared to the amount of TARP received through the government bailout, the AFL-CIO report referred to above, makes the numbers astounding. Citigroup Inc. CEO Vikram S. Pandit received $38,327,437 for 2008 ; the company received $50 billion in TARP; Bank of America CEO Kenneth D. Lewis was paid $9,857,723 in 2008 and the company got $45 billion TARP; American International Group, Inc. paid CEO Martin J,. Sullivan $13,960.382 and the company was given $40 billion Tarp money; James Dimon CEO at JP Morgan Chase & Co. received $28,887,532 and the company $25 billion; Wells Fargo & Company gave CEO John Stumpf $8,768,935 and the company received $25 billion in TARP funds; Richard G. Wagoner, General Motors Corp. CEO was paid $19,761,874 and TARP handed the company $14,284,024,131; Lloyd C. Blankfein, CEO at Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. was paid $53,966,198 while the firm received $10 billion TARP money; Kenneth I. Chenault , American Express CEO was paid $43,393,172 while the company got $3,388,890 from TARP.
The AFL-CIO’s input is contained in three tiny print 8/12x11 pages filled with more names and numbers than are worth reproducing here. However, you can go to the web site and see for yourself just how far apart performance and compensation looked to be when these businesses were receiving truck loads of TARP money. One has to wonder: What was the financial health of these companies before the government stepped in? And if these businesses appeared so mismanaged and destined for disaster, why were their CEO’s still being paid huge amounts of money that had to have vastly outdistanced the value their performances?
