The latest evidence came Thursday from the liberal-leaning Economic Policy Institute, which found that CEO pay at the biggest American corporations skyrocketed another 18 percent in 2017, to a lofty average of $18.9 million, much of that fueled by stock options and buybacks. And hey, everybody deserves a raise, right? But here’s the thing: While CEOs have seen their salaries soar 72 percent during the comeback from the Great Recession — 2009-2017 — the average workers has gotten a measly 2 percent raise, according to the EPI.
The Philadelphia Inquirer
August 17, 2018
Wal-Mart’s strong earnings report pleases investors, while retail rivals stumble. Trinity Chavez looks at Samsung’s R&D spending – and results – while Danielle DiMartino Booth discusses Qatar’s credit offer to Turkey, and Venezuela’s sanction-busting bond sale. A new report from the Economic Policy Institute says CEO pay and inequality are reaching new heights – or lows – while an environmental working group says a probable carcinogen may be in your favorite cereal. Lauren Fix introduces us to Turkish automakers, and Steve Malzberg looks at the sports drink sequel to the “Cola Wars” of past decades. (video)
RT
August 17, 2018
A recent report by the Economic Policy Institute shows that top managers are getting higher compensation every year, while their employees’ salaries barely change. “In 2017 the average CEO of the 350 largest firms in the US received $18.9 million in compensation, a 17.6 percent increase over 2016. The typical worker’s compensation remained flat, rising a mere 0.3 percent,” the report said. “The 2017 CEO-to-worker compensation ratio of 312-to-1 was far greater than the 20-to-1 ratio in 1965 and more than five times greater than the 58-to-1 ratio in 1989.” (whole article)
RT
August 17, 2018
The chief executives of America’s top 350 companies earned 312 times more than their workers on average last year, a new report published by the Economic Policy Institute reports. The rise came after the bosses of the United States’s largest companies got an average pay raise of 17.6 percent in 2017. This means they were compensated an average of $18.9 million. Meanwhile, employee wages stalled, rising just 0.3 percent over the year. (whole article)
RealClearLife
August 17, 2018
There’s new data to back up the nagging feeling that millions of U.S. workers experience every payday: Their bosses really are making hundreds of times the amount the average worker does. On average, that would be 312 times, according to a new report from the Economic Policy Institute, which analyzed the 2017 compensation of chief executives from America’s 350 top companies. (whole article)
Truthdig
August 17, 2018
CEO pay spiked to $18.9 million in 2017 if you include realized stock options, according to a new Economic Policy Institute report looking at average CEO pay for the 350 largest firms. That’s a 17.6 percent increase over 2016, and a 1,070 percent increase since 1978—a time period during which average worker pay rose just 11.2 percent. Another measure, counting stock options granted rather than stock options realized, found that CEO pay rose from $13 million to $13.3 million. The answer to the standard defense of high CEO pay is no, they’re not worth it. While CEO pay grew 1,070 percent by the first measure and 979 percent by the second between 1978 and 2017, the stock market grew by 637 percent. Even the top 0.1 percent of earners saw an increase of “only” 308 percent during that time. Not to mention that “Higher CEO pay does not reflect correspondingly higher output or better firm performance. Exorbitant CEO pay therefore means that the fruits of economic growth are not going to ordinary workers.” (whole article)
Daily Kos
August 17, 2018
Top executives of America’s biggest companies saw their average annual pay surge to $18.9 million in 2017, according to a report released Thursday, fueling concerns about the gulf between the nation’s richest and everyone else. The dramatic 18 percent jump in chief executive pay came as wages for American workers remained essentially flat, pushing the gap between executive compensation and employee pay to its highest point in about a decade. (whole story)
Washington Post
August 16, 2018
The chief executives of America’s top 350 companies earned 312 times more than their workers on average last year, according to a new report published Thursday by the Economic Policy Institute. The rise came after the bosses of America’s largest companies got an average pay rise of 17.6% in 2017, taking home an average of $18.9m in compensation while their employees’ wages stalled, rising just 0.3% over the year. (whole story)
The Guardian
August 16, 2018
While the U.S. stock market has soared since President Donald Trump’s 2016 election, those rising tides have disproportionately boosted the salaries of CEOs—rather than their workers. Indeed, while CEOs of the nation’s 350 largest companies earned about $18.9 million in 2017, a 17.6% raise from a year earlier, their workers’ paychecks increased roughly 0.3% during the same time period, according to a Thursday study from the Economic Policy Institute. (whole story)
Fortune
August 16, 2018
Janelle speaks ~2:54-3:21
NPR
August 16, 2018