It's quite simple, the people at the top make too much

[edhopper]

The reason that people make shit money for shitty work is that the people at the top make too much money.
We have seen the worker to executive ratio grow by ridiculous amounts over the decades. But in less abstract and more real world terms, it is seen in the lack of truckers, because it has become a grueling job for crap pay and no benefits.
As long as they could keep people insecure and desperate, so they had to work at their shit companies for low pay, they could keep crapping on workers. But COVID let people see they didn't have to work themselves to death to survive and maybe there were better ways to live.
Make no mistake, I don't think companies have changed, and I am sure the ruling oligarchs will do what they can to take more and give workers less.
I don't see a big solution happening, I am just observing what is going on. There are solutions of course, I just don't believe there is enough of a national will to implement them.

[empedocles]

1. An awful lot of people are struggling

[Mary in S. Carolina]

2. My little town of 3000 people

The upper middle class owned their own homes, wife stayed at home, 5+ kids went to college, had nice clothes and vehicles. See their jobs below:

1. Owned and ran a tiny shoe store
2. Owned and ran a tiny bakery
3. Owned and ran a tiny travel agency
4. Several owned and ran small grocery stores
5. Owned and ran small clothing store
6. Owned and ran a local newspaper
7. Owned and ran a tiny florist shop
8. Several owned and ran a small diners
9. Owned and ran a small hardware store

Now all of these jobs, that allowed families to make enough money to live the American Dream, have died and are offered by Walmart, etc for nonliving wages.

[multigraincracker]

3. Won't be pretty when the dam breaks.

Water is getting higher every day.

[Hoyt]

4. Most of what people at top "make" is on paper. So that doesn't really bother me. Not like they

are taking it from me or anyone else.

However, it is time to increase tax rates for income and capital gains, and significantly revise estate taxes. That money should be used for those at the lower end of the scale-- healthcare, education, housing, etc.

[edhopper]

5. That's not true

the salaries of the top executives has grown exponentially in the last decades. That money has to come from somewhere. That and using profits for stock buy backs instead of wages or benefits also keep people poor.

You are correct about the second part.

[Hoyt]

8. I really don't care. Amazon, CVS, big food companies, PHARMA, etc., worked well during pandemic.

If the head of Walmart makes $22M, that's less than $10 per employee. I don't feel they are taking from workers or me. I guess some do.

Again, all for raising taxes.

[edhopper]

9. You can't look at just the head of the company

think of all the other executives also getting big gains.

You think this is a coincidence?





https://www.epi.org/publication/ceo-pay-has-grown-90-times-faster-than-typical-worker-pay-since-1978/

[Hoyt]

10. Don't care how much they make. I think it's insane to pay that much for CEOs, but big companies do.

But, if we took every penny CEOs make and devided among 160 Million workers, it would be peanuts.

The average compensation for the Fortune 500 companies is roughtly $13,000,000. That roughly $6.5 Billion for all 500 companies.

Take every penny and devide it among 160,000,000 Million workers and we'd all get $40.63.

Most people are better off learning new skills than spending time griping about $40.63 and what those dang CEOs make.


BTW: Doubt I could stand to be around one of those CEOs for even a minute. I'm sure they are A-holes to the max.

[edhopper]

11. It's not just the CEOs

it's all the top execs, the Board and what the company uses it's money for.

Raising taxes will not give people a living wage, and telling them to get a new job sounds very Republican.

[Hoyt]

12. Griping about $50 sounds like a waste of time.

I’m all for raising minimum wage. Although with recent changes in wages, it won’t impact that many people.

Many people need to update their skills if they expect to make more than minimum wage, and the government should help them. If you think that’s Republican, well maybe you are mistaken.

[edhopper]

16. Not raising minimum wage

and telling everyone who doesn't make enough to live on to get a better job is exactly what the GOP says.

[Hoyt]

13. Honestly, I'd be fine taking half or more of any family income above $100,000/yr and giving

it to those in the lower 20 or 30th income percentile. We can see where that gets us.

[edhopper]

17. Wait?

we can't lower the salary of executives to give workers higher pay.

But we can take the earners of executives and give it to the people through taxes and credits.

?????

[inthewind21]

14. Your math is flawed

It assumes there are only 500 companies with a CEO in the entire county and they all make the 2019 average salary of $13,000,000.00 and that all 160 million workers in this country work for those 500 companies. Along with many other things not factored arriving at the inaccurate $40.63. New skills are in order indeed!

[Hoyt]

15. Well why don't you tell us what ($13M*500)/160,000,000 equals? Then, what aspects would you

factor in.

I guess we could say that only 80,000,000 workers will get the windfall. That would be $81 and change for one year. The next year, all chit would hit.

[edhopper]

18. Again

IT" NOT JUST THE CEOs.

Don't understand why you don't get that?

[Hoyt]

20. Fine, take every penny above the median income and give it

to all making below that. And, since big companies make substantial money overseas, we should probably include 2 Billion workers in sharing the take.

How do you think that will work out long term?

Increase taxes, minimum wage, helping people improve their skills will get us there much faster than griping about those who get paid well.

[edhopper]

22. Do you think

I am not advocating higher minimum wage and higher taxes?

And everybody can't have better skills and a better job. Are you advocating a permanent underclass.
And truckers do have special skills, but the corporations have found a way to keep their pay shit.
Talk to a co-pilot for a regional airline, that seems like a skill that should get more than $20 an hour.

I guess you just don't want to see how the top percent has gamed the system to extract most of the money at the expense of the bottom half. You don't see their pay as a problem.

Where do think that part of the GDP has gone?

[Hoyt]

23. Not sure where you got that chart. During that time, costs like technology,

healthcare, etc. -- has been going up. That's where most of the growth in productivity comes from. If technology, etc., hadn't improved, we'd be living like in the 1950s, except a lot worse off.

Not sure how topic of truck-drivers came up, but everyone I know does well unless they are contracting their rig. They make well over minimum wage. Why, because they have a skill. Believe me, I realize it's a tough job and a big sacrifice being away from home.

But if it weren't for big companies producing a lot of stuff or importing it, we wouldn't need that many drivers, warehouse workers, staff at McDonald's, etc. Maybe that would be good, but then our homeless rate would increase more toward UK, Germany, Sweden, etc.

Point is, we need to promote more big companies, billionaires, etc. BUT TAX THEM ACCORDINGLY and plow it into things like are in the BBB, provide a guaranteed income, safety net, etc. If it takes $20M to buy the CEO talent to manage all that AND contribute more to society, I'm fine with it.

But, I do like the fact that the Child Tax Credit pulled a lot of kids out of poverty, until it ended. That tells me we can do something about people under say the 30 percentile, without having to raise tons of money.

[brooklynite]

6. What are the "of course" solutions?

[edhopper]

7. Raising the minimum wage

more unionization
universal healthcare
higher taxes on the wealthy and stopping the disparity between wages and capitol gains
better enforcement of labor laws
etc...

solutions that we probably won't see.

[JanMichael]

19. While I understand the question do you have any suggestions?

Or are you becoming like Rogan and just asking questions?

That's all he and that weasel on Fuox does - just asking questions.

[ret5hd]

21. As long as you don't mess with the status quo...

that’s the main goal for some here…