If we could get this law on our books many of our problems would disapear.

[Maraya1969]

http://littlegreenfootballs.com/page/303120_Switzerland_Weighs_Radical_App

More: Switzerland Weighs Radical Approach to Runaway Executive Compensation

Voters in Switzerland will weigh in on a novel approach to runaway executive pay later this month as regulators, economists, and lawmakers in the United States continue to grapple with the problem.

A referendum is set for November 24 on a law called the “1:12 Initiative” that would impose a flexible cap on top employee compensation at Swiss companies. If approved, the highest-paid employee of any given Swiss firm could not earn more in a month than its lowest-paid employee makes in a year. By using a ratio rather than a dollar figure cap, the 1:12 Initiative would both shrink the salaries of top executives and raise the pay of underlings. “You shouldn’t just say a maximum salary, because what we really want is a relationship between the lowest and the highest,” said David Roth, one of the plan’s architects, in an interview with Business Insider. In March, Swiss voters overwhelmingly approved a package of CEO pay reforms, including an outright ban on so-called “golden parachute” payouts for fired executives.

The 12-to-1 ratio would be a massive shift for Swiss businesses, many of which currently pay their top people a couple hundred times what their worst-paid workers earn. Here in the United States, the prevailing ratio was 273-to-1 last year.

More at Think Progress.

http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2013/11/08/2919341/switzerland-executive-compensation-limits/

[NV Whino]

1. Dr Bronner's Magic Soap already does that here

I can't remember the ratio, but I think it's 10:1

[StrayKat]

7. Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream used to do that, but no more.

They started at 5:1, then changed to 7:1, then 17:1, etc. Now they have no such limits. I think it's too hard for companies to self-impose.

[NV Whino]

8. Ben & Jerry's also is no longer owned by Ben and Jerry

[StrayKat]

9. Yes, companies often get sold at some point.

The trend started before Ben & Jerry left though.

[Maraya1969]

20. I love Dr. Bronner's Soap. I used to take baths and read the bottle sitting in the tub.

Now I've lost my tub but if I ever get it back again I'm definitely down with the Dr. Bronners.'

[TreasonousBastard]

2. Watch 'em all move to Monaco.

[JDPriestly]

12. Companies get really good deals and lots of protection in Switzerland.

I doubt that the companies will move to Monaco.

[truebluegreen]

3. Problem is many of "our" companies,

particularly the most egregious offenders, are already incorporated in the Caymans, or elsewhere offshore. I don't know how we could apply this except to companies that are wholly American....but I agree something like this should be done.

[annabanana]

11. take it out in import duties. .

If theyz furriners, theyz furriners.

[truebluegreen]

15. I'd love to

but I think trade agreements would preclude that....which the corporations know very well, and exploit to the fullest.

[Scuba]

4. It doesn't bother me that some are paid huge sums of money.

It bothers me a lot that many are paid far too little. It also bothers me a lot that the wealthy are allowed to use their riches to purchase politicians.

[hughee99]

5. Completely agree.

If the CEO of walmart only made what the current lowest paid workers made, it doesn't fix anything. The problem isn't what the person at the top makes, it's what the person at the bottom makes. If Walmart's lowest paid workers were making $100k a year and it's CEO made $1 billion, we'd be better off even though the ratio is worse.

I can understand where companies might be encouraged to raise the lowest paid workers up so they can compensate their CEO more, but I don't think that's going to happen all that much. I think companies will either move to new locations where these rules don't apply, or try to find ways to "compensate" the CEO's without having that count against their compensation.

[Incitatus]

25. There's another problem.

The CEO doesn't have to "control" the company. The top stockholders in a company can still make a lot of money from dividends like the Walmart heirs. A lot of large corporations are no longer majority owned by the founder, but their heirs. 1%ers by luck of birth. They can have a voting majority and hire a suit to run the company at whatever pay ratio and still make billions while paying a low tax rate.

[Initech]

10. What bothers me is that American CEOs are paid 475:1 of the average worker.

They get it all. We get what is left of the scraps. And what's even more troubling is that when you look at global statistics - no other country on earth even remotely comes close to what American CEOs make. And we don't have pensions, benefits, or safety nets anymore because robber baron CEOs like that of Tyco, Enron, and Adelphia decided that our safety nets were their personal piggy bank. Fuck them.

[StrayKat]

6. I was thinking. . .

The way to do that in the US would be to impose different tax rates for different ratios. Something like:

1:15 pay a 20% effective tax rate

<25 pay 23%

< 50 pay 28%

< 100 pay 35%

100 + pay 42% effective tax rate

That way companies could still choose their own wage structure and business that chose not to adjust their pay scales so that their workers were paid fair wages would at least be funding the public assistance programs the low-wage workers wind up on.

How did the initiative address part-time workers?

[JDPriestly]

13. Good idea.

Another idea I had was to allow companies to deduct the cost of the lowest 60-70% of the salaries they pay but make the company pay a full tax rate on all salaries in the top say 30% of their salaries. Companies should not be able to deduct the cost of the CEO and highly paid salaries.

[StrayKat]

14. Hmmm, I'm not sure.

It doesn't sound like a system that encourages a more horizontal wage pyramid. I think your suggestion might create a wedge situation and reinforce the glass ceiling for middle management earners. In that system, if you have 100 or 200 low-wage workers for every executive, wouldn't the deductions and penalties cancel each other?

[JDPriestly]

17. Maybe. There are no easy answers.

[Enthusiast]

16. I like it!.....nt

[indepat]

18. Just imagine the squealing like a stuck hog if a 12 to 1, or even a 120 to 1, were law in 'murika:

for the 'pukes and MSM would squeal it were pure some type of unholy, un-American ism.

[cynatnite]

19. For me, it was the insane amount of money a boss made compared to his/her workers...

I wish this would pass here, but it'll never happen.

[Maraya1969]

22. Don't be too sure. I don't talk about this much but my father was a salesman and he became

so good and so successful that he made more than the CEO of his company and they were a big moving and storage company with franchises all over the country. Some insurance sales people made that kind of money also. Probably a lot of other industries that I don't even know about.

My dad made in the top 1% back then in the 60's and 70's but it was nothing like the top 1% now. I don't ever remember hearing about a billionaire until at least my thirties.

[Demo_Chris]

21. They will simply pay themselves in other compensation. nt

[Maraya1969]

23. OK then they get penalized very harshly for all the money they are taking from the government

for not paying their employees a living wage.

I almost would like to see that happen, because I think it is starting to happen in California. I would love for Walmart to get a bill for every dollar that they have stolen from the tax payers of this country.

[Demo_Chris]

24. I hear you. nt

[JEFF9K]

26. Right-wing pundits aren't gonna like this. ...

... And neither will the millions of suckers that rely on them for orders about what to think.

[Control-Z]

27. i started writing an OP yesterday

to say much the same. Though, the 1:12 ratio is better than I was thinking.