Execs, Top-Earners Account for More than Third of All U.S. Wages

Execs, Top-Earners Account for More than Third of All U.S. Wages

The Wall Street Journal is reporting the nation’s corporate executives and other highly-compensated employees now account for more than one-third of all salaries earned in the United States. According to Social Security Administration figures, top earners pulled in $2.1 trillion of the total $6.4 trillion paid in 2007. The numbers don’t include several types of stock options and other benefits that would add hundreds of millions to the top bracket’s earnings. From 2002 to 2007, the average worker saw a 24% pay increase—half the 48% increase for the highly paid. The rising pay for top-earners appears to be adversely affecting Social Security. With more wages beyond the maximum that can be taxed to contribute to the Social Security trust, less money is available to fund retirement benefits for American workers.

( http://www.democracynow.org )

WSJ article here: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124813343694466841.html

Think about your annual salary... multiply that by 10 and you've got a nice chunk of change - enough to be rather rich in my circle of friends, but far from close to a measly $1 million annual income - which would take 40 years for on an annual salary of $25k. Let's not forget - there are people out there raking in millions of dollars in bonuses alone, but they can do nothing better than complain about a disproportional tax on their wealth?

The top 6% of income earners are taking more than a third of all wages earned yet they want the relatively poor public majority to see this as fair?! People that don't find these large disparities in wages alarming must "[l]ike Joe the Plumber... suffer from the delusion that by identifying with people more powerful than oneself, one might magically become them."

Wake up people, you are not rich, you likely will never be rich, so quit thinking and voting as if you were rich.