CEO entitlements
During the last 50 years, the ratio of the highest-paid employee’s compensation to that of the lowest paid rose from 24:1 to 275:1. From the New York Times Magazine:
Indeed, what has happened with executive compensation … is that a culture of entitlement has apparently become the norm. It’s not a matter of how much anyone in particular makes, and certainly not a question of an innovator like a Steve Jobs hitting the jackpot. The problem is that so many now seem automatically to receive so much (the chief executives in the Fortune 500 averaged $11 million in 2008) despite average or poor performance — or, in the case of the TARP companies, performance that was so colossally bad that it almost brought down the financial system.
I’ve often wondered if that CEO who makes $11 million a year really adds $30,000 per day of value to the company, or if it’s just some kind of office politics jackpot. Leaning towards jackpot.