Plenty of state fights against inequality are keeping us hopeful.
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THIS WEEK
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Social change can sometimes take a really long time. Consider the fight to halt the ever-widening gap between executive pay and worker pay in the United States. The legislation requiring corporations just to disclose the gap between their CEO and median worker pay passed in 2010. Now, eight years later, thanks to a brilliant new report from the staff of Rep. Keith Ellison, we are one step closer to knowing which corporations share the wealth with their employees — and which do not. According to the report, the average CEO-to-worker pay ratio among these firms was 339 to 1, and the widest gap was toymaker Mattel’s, at an astounding 4,987 to 1. Don’t miss Sarah Anderson talk about this new report on Rising Up with Sonali radio show.
Also this week in inequality, activists demanded their rights by occupying a posh country club in Hong Kong, a teenager in Massachusetts stood up for a fair wage for all workers, especially the young ones, and a new rental yacht came on the market, yours to rent by the week for a mere $752,659.
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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Teens Fighting for a Fair Wage in Massachusetts
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| Norma Meza is an 18 year old student at Charlestown High School in Charlestown, MA. Growing up, she watched her mother battle health issues such as kidney failure, lupus, and ulcers. Despite working full-time, her mother struggled financially to keep the family afloat. Norma knew as early as 14 years old that she would have to get a job to help her mother pay the bills and put food on the table. Knowing how valuable youth employment is to herself and her family, Norma joined the organization I Have A Future and the Raise Up Massachusetts coalition to lift up the voice of teenagers in their efforts to raise the minimum wage in Massachusetts. This week, Jessicah Pierre has more on the importance of including teen wages in the national Fight for $15 efforts. Jessiah Piere has more. |
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WORDS OF WISDOM
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PETULANT PLUTOCRAT
OF THE WEEK
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| An Angry CEO’s Warning: Don’t Dare Diss Rolls |
| Save the Earth? Rolls-Royce CEO Torsten Müller-Ötvös could care less. His world-renowned high-end motor car company has just unveiled the most expensive SUV on the market, a 5,800-pound behemoth that goes for $325,000. What does Müller-Ötvös care about? Saving the Rolls reputation as the with-it ultimate in luxury motoring. This past March, Aston Martin’s design chief challenged that status, dubbing the Rolls look as outmoded as “ancient Greece.” An “enraged” Müller-Ötvös, one auto industry media outlet reports, hit back immediately. He told the Financial Times that Aston Martin had “zero clue” about how to market to ultra high-net-worth individuals and then accused other car makers of stealing his company’s design ideas. Rolls Royce, Müller-Ötvös enjoys insisting, remains unique: “Our philosophy is to strive for perfection.” |
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GREED AT A GLANCE
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TOO MUCH
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| Fore! How We Pay When Plutocrats Play |
| From Hong Kong to Los Angeles, people of ordinary means are finding themselves squeezed into tight and incredibly expensive housing and, at the same time, subsidizing country clubs for the golfing super rich. But the squeezed are starting to squeeze back. Early this spring, protestors chanting “Land for all!” occupied a putting green at the elite Hong Kong Golf Club, a 54-hole complex big enough to comfortably house some 37,000 people. Inequality.org co-editor Sam Pizzigati has more. |
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MUST READS
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This week on Inequality.org
Brian Wakamo, The Post Office as an Alternative to Shady Private Banks. A Senate bill would fill a void in many rural and low-income communities by reintroducing low-cost lending at neighborhood post offices.
Sarah Anderson, Rep. Keith Ellison Takes a Hard Look at New CEO Pay Ratio Data. The Minnesota lawmaker has been a champion of efforts to defend the disclosure reform from Republican attack.
Corey Rosen, Employee Ownership a Win-Win for Workers and Companies. A study finds that millennials in employee stock ownership plans fare far better compared to other young workers.
Inequality Staff, Road to Zero Wealth Reaches Pod Save the People. Host DeRay McKesson talks to Inequality.org co-editors Chuck Collins and Josh Hoxie about their racial wealth divide report.
Elsewhere on the web
Barnali Choudhury and Martin Petrin, British government relying too heavily on business to make society fairer, The Conversation. The UK government should cap the upper limits of executive pay or establish acceptable pay ratios between the employees and CEOs.
Paul Solman, If you’re rich, you’re more lucky than smart. And there’s math to prove it, PBS NewsHour. New research from three Italian academics.
Vanessa Fuhrmans, CEO Pay and Performance Often Don’t Match Up, Wall Street Journal. So much for pay for performance. CEO pay reflects only pay for power.
Linette Lopez, What if Wall Street is waiting for the wrong disaster? Business Insider. No one in the world can escape two strong deflationary forces working in the economy: demographics and inequality.
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