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THIS WEEK
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Big corporations don’t always win, as my colleague Sarah Anderson reminds us this week in a new video for U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders.
Back in 2010, right after the passage of the Dodd-Frank financial reform act, corporate lobbyists went all out to kill a provision in that legislation that requires publicly traded U.S. companies to disclose the ratio between what they pay their CEO and median worker. But we beat them back, and this past month we began to see the first ratio disclosures.
Del Monte would no doubt prefer that we concentrate on the firm’s famed fruit cups instead. Del Monte, notes Institute for Policy Studies analyst Brian Wakamo, sports the widest pay gap so far disclosed. The company’s CEO took home $8.5 million in 2017. The median Del Monte worker — in Costa Rica — made $5,833. The ratio: 1,465:1!
We’re likely to see more mind-boggling numbers as corporations continue to disclose their pay gaps. Let’s not let the story end here. It’s time to connect consequences to wide ratios. Let’s make firms pay for devaluing workers and concentrating rewards at the top.
Chuck Collins, for the Institute for Policy Studies Inequality.org team |
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INEQUALITY BY THE NUMBERS
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FACES ON THE FRONTLINES
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| The Utah Seniors Keeping Their Housing Affordable |
| Applewood Homeowners Cooperative, a manufactured home community, had long been an affordable housing option for seniors in Midvale, Utah. So when a construction company purchased the community and enacted huge rent increases, residents knew they had to fight back. Shirlene Stoven tells the story of how she and her neighbors organized and regained control over their rent levels and their homes. |
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WORDS OF WISDOM
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PETULANT PLUTOCRAT
OF THE WEEK
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| The Billionaire Who Covets Breitbart’s Eyeballs |
| Is high-tech billionaire Peter Thiel having some buyer’s remorse? In 2016, Thiel fervently backed Donald Trump’s White House bid, and some media reports even indicated that a grateful Trump might give the 50-year-old Thiel a Supreme Court seat. That seat hasn’t materialized, and now media outlets are reporting that the “mutual enthusiasm” between Thiel and Trump “seems to have cooled.” Admits Thiel: “We don’t talk that often.” Still, he adds, “I can get access anytime I want.” What else des Thiel want? A bigger national media presence. The billionaire, the New York Times notes, “has been exploring the creation of a media company that would outflank Breitbart and Fox for a younger audience.” |
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GREED AT A GLANCE
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TOO MUCH
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| A Media Mogul’s Noble Challenge to Moguldom |
| A century ago, newspaper publisher E.W. Scripps ranked as one of America’s fiercest egalitarians. But today the media company that bears his name rates as just another contributor to America’s relentlessly rising gap between the rich and everyone else. Back in his own day, Scripps had both a bold antidote for that gap and — during World War I — the nation’s attention. Inequality.org co-editor Sam Pizzigati has more on Scripps and the national campaign for a “conscription of wealth” he championed. |
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MUST READS
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This week on Inequality.org
Brian Wakamo, Del Monte's Pay Ratio is Largest to Date at 1,465:1. Some of the early corporate pay ratio disclosures now emerging show the gaps between CEO and worker pay can run astoundingly high.
Sarah Anderson, ‘Small’ Banks That Would Benefit from Deregulation Bill Have Huge Pay Gaps. As senators move to loosen risk controls on certain banks, CEOs of these firms continue to receive pay packages that encourage risky behavior.
Bob Lord, Just How Unequal Are America’s Major Corporations? Time to lift the veil on executive pay at privately held corporations.
Jessicah Pierre, Eight Trailblazing Women Leading the Fight Against Inequality. In honor of International Women’s Day, a look at some of the fearless women leading today’s social movements.
Jenny McGill, Gold and Global Inequality at the Winter Olympics. What would Olympic coverage look like if we considered national wealth alongside medal counts?
Elsewhere on the web
Sam Pizzigati, How Gary Cohn and Andrew Mellon Both Failed America, Fortune. A cautionary tale of two top White House economic advisers and their tax plans.
Lester Spence, To Fight Racial Inequality We Need To Rethink Our Economy, The Huffington Post. We need to prioritize equality and garnering a larger slice of the wealth accumulated by the 1 percent and multinationals.
Derek Seidman, Who Gets Rich on America’s Guns? The Public. Start with the CEOs at America’s gun makers. But don’t forget the banks and hedge funds that have poured mega millions into firearms.
David Ruccio, “If poor people knew how rich rich people are, there would be riots in the streets,” Real-World Economics Review. The overlooked numbers behind the Chris Rock quip.
Scott Barry Kaufman, The Role of Luck in Life Success Is Far Greater Than We Realized, Scientific American. Are riches merely the deserved reward for talent? Or do riches reflect luck? New research points to luck.
Eric Levitz, Polls: After GOP Tax Bill Went Into Effect, It Became Less Popular, New York. Voters have wised up to the Trump tax cut. |
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