Economic crisis, but not for corporate CEOs

This video says about itself:

As countries like Greece and Spain struggle under massive debts that are impoverishing its people, the elites around the world are getting richer and richer. This report looks at the ever widening gap.

“There are customers that have all the way up to 100 vehicles in their garage.” Torsten Muller-Otvos from Rolls Royce tells us. Each one costs about half a million and last year Rolls Royce sold more cars than ever before in their 100-year history, but then the luxury industry knows no crisis. Since 2009 the rich have become on average 6 percent richer. So while one in six Americans now has no health insurance, Manhattan’s 58 billionaires have gotten richer

As Manuel Koch points out the ratio of return expected by the rich has totally shifted, “People used to be happy making three million profit. Today companies like Apple account for 6 billion profit. That’s profit! Not turnover.” But despite their greater income the super-rich aren’t too happy about the idea of their tax loopholes being closed. In their minds they give back, even if it’s not through taxes. “I know a lot of rich friends who have charities…when they reach a certain level they give back to the community. So I think less tax is always better than too much.” But as the world struggles through a financial crisis and the globe-trotting elite continue to grow wealthier, there’s not much evidence they have their communities interests at heart.

By Andre Damon in the USA:

US corporate executives cash in

22 March 2013

As the US government prepares to furlough 1 million federal workers and slash hundreds of billions in social spending, corporate executives in the United States are receiving among the highest payouts in history. USA Today reported Thursday that at least ten CEOs took in $50 million apiece in 2012, largely as a result of cashing in stocks that have soared in value with the rising market. According to the newspaper, “Early 2013 proxy filings detailing 2012 compensation show a growing number of CEOs reaping $50 million or more, gains that could prove unmatched in breadth and size since the Internet IPO craze enriched tech company executives more than a decade ago.”

Being the CEO of an American corporation is the only job where failure is rewarded with bonuses and promotions: here.

Meet the CEO whose pay-off was bigger than his 17,600 employees combined: here.

By David Brown:

American CEOs paid 300 times more than workers

29 June 2015

A new study by the Economic Policy Institute showed that while worker pay has stagnated since the economic crash of 2008, CEO pay has skyrocketed. While the average worker made the same in 2014 as they did in 2009, CEO compensation rose by 54.3 percent in the same period.

The average pay for CEOs at the largest US firms in 2014 was 303.4 times the pay of an average worker. CEOs averaged $16.3 million, up 3.9 percent from 2013, while the average worker in 2014 only made $53,200. In practical terms, that means a top CEO takes home more than a worker makes in a year after 8 hours on the job.

Britain: THE AVERAGE £5 million salary of a top company boss is a staggering 183 times higher than that of full-time workers, a new study revealed yesterday. The typical pay for high-ranking chief executive officers (CEOs) jumped from £4.1m to £4.9m in just four years since 2010, research of FTSE 100 companies by think tank the High Pay Centre found: here.

Highest-paid CEOs run worst-performing companies, research finds. Research firm finds businesses led by lower-paid CEOs earn greater shareholder return: here.

UK CEO pay skyrockets as workers’ wages continue to plummet: here.