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Dear John,
I’ve written to you about this problem before, but now there’s a fix for it.
The problem is the obscene disparity between CEO and median worker pay.
In 1979, the average ratio between a CEO’s pay and that of the median worker was 33 to 1. A big discrepancy to be sure, but as of 2021, the CEO-to-median-worker pay ratio had metastasized, to a whopping 399 to 1.
Over those four decades, CEO pay increased more than 1,209%.
It’s not like the CEOs were responsible for that kind of growth in productivity. In that same time period, productivity growth, due to the work of the workers, increased 61.8%; yet workers’ wages rose only 17.5%.
Now Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse and Reps. Barbara Lee and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez have introduced the Curtailing Executive Overcompensation (CEO) Act, designed to address this problem by levying an excise tax on companies with a CEO-to-median-worker pay disparity of 50 to 1 or greater.
Send your message to your congresspeople today to urge them to become co-sponsors of the CEO Act now!
You may be wondering how the CEO Act would work.
The tax would apply only to big companies, with gross income over $100 million per year and a payroll totaling $10 million or more. The tax rate would be pegged to the degree to which the ratio of CEO’s pay (including salary, bonuses, and stock options) to worker pay is greater than 50-to-1.
Workers make the economy thrive, and they deserve to keep more of the benefits of their labor. The public has shown popular support for striking workers in recognition of the need to compensate workers more fairly.
When extreme wealth goes into PACs and campaign contributions, the wealthy write the laws, and when billionaires flatter Supreme Court justices with extravagant gifts, the wealthy determine how the laws are enforced and interpreted, too. This leads us directly into oligarchy -- rule by the richest few, putting democracy at risk.
Click here to sign and send your message to your congresspeople, and thank you for alerting your representatives to the need to take action!
Robert Reich
Inequality Media Civic Action
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