Disgusting executive pay packages

The Wall Street Journal reports this morning about analysis it has conducted regarding the massive disparity in executive pay packages vs. those of regular employees. Specifically the WSJ analysis focused on the guaranteed nature of executive pay packages relative to the un-guaranteed nature of regular employee pay packages.

The Journal found that “25% of executives at major U.S. companies had gains in their supplemental executive retirement-savings plans in 2008, even as employees had sizable losses in the companies retirement accounts…The gains often stemmed from guaranteed fixed returns on executive savings plans.

“The disparity underscores a fact of life in America’s corporate-pay scene. It’s not just bigger paychecks that have led to a growing wage gap – it’s the different levels of risk that executives and rank-and-file employees face in their retirement plans. That difference rarely has been more evident than the past year, when 50 million employees [16% of the U.S. population!] lost a total of at least $1 trillion in their 401(k) plans, according to the Center on Retirement Research at Boston College.”

DISGUSTING!

In my opinion, the way to change the capitalist system to ensure its continued health is to alter the way U.S. employees, large and small, are compensated. Isn’t it god damned obvious?

Jason