Terrible Tom <silvereightynine@aol.com> wrote:
> I was going to stay outta this one.. oh well
We sucked him in - our plan is working perfectly!
<strokes cat> Muwahahahahaaaa! </strokes cat> :-)
There have been some great responses to your post already, so I
won't bother to rehash what has already been brilliantly said, just
touch on a couple of quick points. (Ok, knowing me, they probably
won't be as quick as they should be, but I'll try...) ;-)
[...]
> Is the CEO so much more valuable and important a person that he needs
> his 7 figure salery, stock options, bonuses, and perks?
In a word, yes - because the pool of people who can do what he does
is very small. The responsibility is huge and so are the benefits.
If you paid your CEO less, you would tend to attract sub-par
applicants or your existing CEO would be stolen away by another company
willing to pay them more.
Its basically the same reason as why sports figures get paid more
than teachers. In the grand scheme of things, a teacher is more
important than playing some silly game for a living, but there are a
great number of people who can be teachers, and only a few who can
perform the physical tasks required of a top level athlete. Water is
absolutely essential to life, whereas a diamond necklace is no good
for anything except being pretty to look at. So why is water so cheap
and a diamond so expensive? Because water is plentiful and diamonds
are rare. The value of an item (in monetary terms) is not determined
by its importance, but by its rarity.
> The gap between the haves and have nots is greater than ever. We have
> no middle class to speak of... Jon Q Public is living off credit cards
> more and more not for toys and electronics, but for groceries and gasoline.
I can understand why you would be inclined to think that; besides
tying into part of human nature, I know that the media is constantly
pounding this sort of class warfare stuff, and its sad because it does
nobody any good. The inevitable outcome of class warfare is simply to
punish the successful, which does nothing for the unsuccessful except
give them some sort of brief vindictive pleasure. The solution to a
problem like this is not to lower those at the top, but to raise those
at the bottom.
Getting to the specific topic which you brought up, the haves and
have nots, etc. (I'll call it the income gap from here on out.) If I
had some more time I'd try to find some research to indicate whether
the income gap is actually growing or shrinking, but it really doesn't
matter, because I'm about to pull one of those "its the opposite of
what you think" deals again. :-) Here it comes - An income gap is
not a bad thing, it is a very *good* thing! This is because it
creates an incentive to bridge it. If everyone earned the same amount
of money and had the exact same stuff, no matter how hard they worked,
what would be the point of trying? For that matter, what would be the
point of working at all? However, to somebody making a relatively
small amount of money, seeing someone who makes more money is proof
that the little guy can improve his own situation! Its an incentive
to work harder and achieve those goals. Despite the bleak picture the
news media attempts to paint, this is happening! The numbers of
people moving from "poor" to "rich" classifications are huge. People
are constantly moving upwards, and only a tiny, tiny fraction actually
stay stuck at the bottom.
There is an interesting report which refutes all of this "the rich
are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer", "there is no
middle class", etc. Its interesting in that it is a study that
tracked actual individuals over a long period of time and not just
trends. I think the report is about 10 years old now, but I don't
think that invalidates it in the least. Its long, but if anyone is
interested in checking it out it is available at
http://www.dallasfed.org/fed/annual/1999p/ar95.pdf
> I bust my ass 11-12 hours a day, 7 days a week, get walked all over by
> my customers and I'm expected to smile and say thanks and come again!
I can relate. :-) My first "real" job was in fast food, I came in
at the bottom and worked my way up to assistant manager, pulling down
an amazing $11K a year. ;-) I had a sudden realization one night as
I was closing out the cash drawers at 3am or so that I had more to
offer them than they had to offer me, so I quit and went to work at a
retail store, starting at the ground floor again, working my way up as
the opportunities arose. It was a step up from fast food but still
not great. I had various jobs here and there after that and they kept
getting better, increasing in pay and reducing in suckage. :-) I
technically am holding down five jobs at the moment (only one is "full
time"), and except for one which involves some part time work at a
local college, I am completely self employed. Although there is a
great deal of risk, no safety net and I don't have a lot of free time,
for the most part, I am enjoying myself and if a particular job sucks
I have only myself to blame. :-) I'm earning more than I have in the
past, but its still not a high income. (I am hopeful to change that
last part over time now that many of the building blocks are in
place.)
I guess my point is to try to be optimistic. Do the best that you
can, recognize and take the opportunities that arise. Sometimes you
have to create your own opportunities. Although we seem to be
absolutely swimming in an atmosphere of pessimism and gloom, and over
time, government intervention has certainly put a damper on things,
this is still the land of opportunity. The potential avenues for
advancement are limitless, as long as you continually strive upwards
and don't resign yourself to some phantom, inevitable fate. Oh, and
perhaps most importantly, believe almost nothing of what you read in
the newspaper or see on TV. :-)
--
-Jon-
.- Jon Steiger -- jon@dakota-truck.net or jon@jonsteiger.com -.
| '96 Kolb Firefly, '96 Suzuki Intruder, Miscellaneous Mopars |
`-------------------------------- http://www.jonsteiger.com --'
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