William J. McDonough, a former chief executive officer of one of Chicago’s largest banks, recently gave some astounding figures about executive compensation.
In 1980, he says, the average large company’s CEO made 40 times more than the average worker in his or her firm. By 2000, the multiple had risen to at least 400 times. In other words, over the course of 20 years, the multiple CEO pay went up 1,000 percent.
His opinion is that this is “grotesquely immoral.” I agree.
The Occupy Wall Street folks are pointing to the gross inequity of this situation and the damage it is doing to the American dream of equality of opportunity for all.
As I read the Hebrew/Christian Scriptures, I find plenty of support there for the kind of society that takes care of all of its members, especially those who are “the least and the last.”
The Rev. Jim Gill
Winthrop
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