CEO’s in the nation’s largest companies are being paid better now than they were in 2007 when the economy was booming, when the stock market set a record high, and unemployment was about half what it is today, according to Associated Press. The typical pay package for the head of a company was $9 million, a 24% increase over last year. The typical worker made less than half of 1 percent of what the typical CEO made.
The biggest gains came in cash bonuses: two-thirds of executives got a bigger one than they had in 2009, some more than three times as big – money that could be used to create jobs for those people whose lives have actually been harmed by the recession.
This trend shows that our hierarchies are becoming more unstable. The top continues to send more resources their way, while passing down less and less resources to keep the lower groups believing the top has their interests in mind.
