See Anything Wrong With This Picture?...

...Because many of our political leaders don't.

Via Daily Kos, a chart comparing average worker pay with that of CEOs-



The American Dream realized at last!

The issue, of course, isn't that CEOs or managers make more than the average worker-- that's expected and the nature of our economy-- it's the huge increase in CEO pay over the last dozen or so years, while worker pay has remained exactly at the same level. It's, umm, created quite a noticeable gap, no?

As the link on Daily Kos notes, if the minimum wage had risen comparably to the CEO wages, it would be around $25/hr. or so today. As it is, it still remains the same $5.15/hr. passed 10 years ago, with the increase to $7.25/hr. passed by Congress in January languishing in legislative limbo thanks to Republican meddling.

Looking at the above chart, you'll notice a temporary drop there in the 2001-2002 period. The source doesn't cite a reason for this, but I'll assume that in the immediate wake of Enron, most companies were forced for PR reasons to behave a little more sanely. Come 2003, Americans had moved on (to new wars and sexier stories) and it was okay again for CEOs to approve huge pay raises for themselves and the like.

But hey, don't you whiny pussies come looking to your government for help or a handout... you are merely a commodity and we must let the free market decide your worth. It's time you pulled yourself up by your boostraps and stopped ragging on those better skilled at scamming the system than you are.

And if you don't like it, you can move to Cuba, comrade.

[Related reading: The New Suburban Poverty (The Nation)]