The average American worker makes around $58,260 a year,
the average American CEO will make about that much in
less than seven hours on the first workday of 2023.
That is how bad inequality has gotten here in the United States,
where CEO pay has really skyrocketed.
In fact, it has increased 1,322%
from 1978 to 2020.
At the same time, wages have been stagnant for American workers,
especially beginning in the 1970s.
Their productivity has certainly gone up, as you can see from this graph,
but their hourly compensation has remained stagnant.
Now, the numbers are even more enraging
when you break them down by profession, okay?
So when you think about all of the essential workers out there,
all of the critical professions that help Americans live as comfortably as they can,
they are so underpaid compared to what these CEOs are making.
So let's take a look at it.
Sarah Anderson of Inequality.org,
put this data together, and here's what we know.
It would take the average American CEO less than three
hours to make more than the average American fast food
workers annual salary of just $26,060 per year.
Less than four hours to make more than the average American
home care aides annual salary of $29,260 per year.
It would take the average American CEO less than five
hours to make more than the average American pre K
teachers annual salary of $36,460 a year.
Let me give you one more.
It would take the average American CEO less than seven hours to make more
than the average American firefighters annual salary of $55,290 per year.
Does that make any sense to you guys?
Doesn't make any sense to me.
And when you're dealing with an economy that is reliant on consumerism,
how are you gonna expect things to run smoothly if Americans don't
have the disposable income necessary to stimulate the economy?
That also doesn't make sense.
So while the Federal Reserve for awhile had no problem just printing money,
allowing corporate stock buy, all of that stuff.
The reality of the situation is the Fed was just propping up the stock market
because the average American can't afford to stimulate the economy by buying
these products.
They have no disposable income due to this inequality, the whole system is broken.
So as soon as the Federal Reserve stops their quantitative easing,
as soon as the Federal Reserve increases interest rates, that those asset bubbles,
the stock market starts to crash and we've been experiencing that.
Because the stock market right now, as we speak is just a house of cards.
It's not built on These Fortune 500 companies providing the best
product that consumers want or spending money on.
No, it's based on corporate stock buybacks.
[LAUGH] It's based on them taking money from the Fed and
investing in shares of their own stocks.
So, the inequality is a huge problem,
not only due to how it impacts the quality of life for average American workers.
But when you think about how this economy is supposed to work,
it just leads to a complete breakdown.
And it leads to more reliance on these corporations not
investing in their own companies but bolstering the value of
their own stocks by buying shares of their own stocks.
Finally, despite the best efforts of corporate media, we should take a look at
how Americans in both parties agree that this massive gap between CEO and
worker pay is a huge problem and something should be done about it.
So, CEOs of America's largest companies are compensated.
So here you can see that when it comes to Republicans, 71% of them say
that the CEOs are compensated too much, only 18% say the right amount.
Similar numbers with Democrats, 81% believe that CEOs of America's largest
companies are compensated too much, only 5% say the right amount.
I'm guessing the 5% are the Pete Buttigieg Mckinsey types.
And when it comes to independence, 68% say that CEOs in America
are compensated too much and 15% say the right amount.
Inequality is leading to a complete breakdown of our country,
it's leading to poverty, it's leading to more homelessness,
it's leading to more greed with corporate stock buybacks, that's for sure.
And we don't have a federal government that's willing to do what's
necessary to fix it, because they're all bought by the same corporations who
don't want to increase wages, who don't wanna do a damn thing for their workers.
Because they don't see labor as an important part of their businesses,
they see labor as a massive cost that they need to fight against.
But without the workers, these companies have nothing, you can't generate anything,
including wealth, including revenue, without the workers.
Which is why, as sad as this story is, the only thing
that really gives me hope today in this country is this
newfound motivation to organize workplaces to unionize.
We gotta keep that momentum going, because if we just sit back and
rely on elected officials who are bribed by these corporations,
to do the right thing, we're going to keep seeing this trend.
It's gonna be exacerbated in coming years.
The only way you change it is through organizing your workplace,
through labor militancy, and essentially having a seat at the table,
collective bargaining, to ensure that wages go up.
You look at these Scandinavian countries, they don't
have the federal government setting minimum wage standards, they don't.
Because the workers are unionized and
those trade unions negotiate salaries on their behalf.
Labor is the answer, organizing the workplace is the answer.
If you just think you're gonna vote,
elect some folks who tell you everything you wanna hear during the election cycle,
and they're gonna save you, clearly, you'd be mistaken.