Salacious, Salaries of Super-CEOs

Corpobligation: CEO's or corporate leaders in the for-profit sector are receiving salaries over 30 times higher than in the non-profit sector

• Sarah Anderson, Christian Science Monitor has written a book and article that states:
  • "Overall, the 20 highest-paid executives of publicly traded corporations make, on average, 38 times more than the country's 20 highest-paid nonprofit leaders."
• Salaries are supposed to motivate behaviour and theoretically compensate employees for their contribution to a business, but how can salaries over 100 times those of the average employee be justified?
• Limits on CEO salaries could be based on reducing corporate tax deductions based on a multiple that relates CEO salaries to the average employee's earnings.
• Where is the corporate obligation? Corporate directors have an obligation to shareholders to look after their best interest. Can they justify astronomic salaries?

Are CEOs worth that much more?

The huge pay gap only makes sense if CEOs add hundreds of times more value than other leaders in society.

By Sarah Anderson, Christian Science Monitor , from the September 5, 2007 edition

...

"Rep. Barbara Lee (D) of California is promoting another reform that would cap the amount of executive compensation corporations are permitted to deduct off their taxes to 25 times the pay of a company's lowest-paid worker.

"Other reformers are talking about taking a similar approach to government procurement, by denying contracts to corporations that pay their top executives more than 25 or 50 or even 100 times what their workers earn. We already deny contracts to companies whose discriminatory employment practices increase racial or gender inequality. Why should we let our tax dollars go to companies that contribute to extreme economic inequality?" 

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