What is wrong with this illustration? ....
Well, if the $10,000 an hour CEO is able to expand the company, retain existing jobs with bonuses at year end, and hiring more, then his rate is justified. In contrast, another CEO gets $1,000 or $400 an hour, and the company goes bankrupt, the workers who get $8 or $10 an hour will soon get $0 an hour. The latter is not exactly a helpful model of a CEO for the rest of society.
An entrepreneur who has empowered some people who used to earn nothing or $5 an hour somewhere and was hired at $8 an hour, will soon become a criminal, a law violator, if he does not give the mandatory, government-dictated minimum of $10 an hour or higher. Mentioning a CEO who earns $10,000 an hour is the trigger to justify and institutionalize a higher and ever-rising mandated minimum wage.
We should respect individual decisions. Many in the haves take the me, me, me only perspective. But even some have-nots also exhibit the same attitude. The time they spend on political lobbying is 5x or 10x larger than the time they spend on getting real work or do micro-entrepreneurship. With political lobbying, via their votes during elections, they can get regular cash allowances, free healthcare, education, tractor, subsidized housing, etc.
If a CEO earns $20,000 an hour and gives away to charity $15,000 an hour equivalent, is it still a problem?
That Seattle CEO is cool. There are many CEOs who do more than him. Like the CEO of Burger King who has nearly $2 billion in wealth and income but owns no car, no house, no watch, and intends to give away at least half of his money someday to charity.
About Manny Pacquiao's huge pay in his fight against Mayweather this Sunday despite only six months preparation, well, no one can become a Pacquiao within 6 months, or 12 months. Pacquiao reached his current throne after 15 or 20 years or more in the ring. Besides, if one will count the number of people working for him -- head coach, asst coaches, conditioning coach, sports physicians, asst trainers, masseurs, dieticians/cooks, bodyguards, etc. -- the number is big. And all of them are paid not by Bob Arum but by Pacquiao himself.
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See also:
Inequality 21: Marx, Keynes and Pikkety are ideological soulmates, December 01, 2014
Inequality 22: Ten Men Eating Equally but Paying Unequally, February 27, 2015
Inequality 23: On Poverty, Agriculture and Motorcycles, March 10, 2015
Inequality 24: Inheritance, Poverty and Envy, April 17, 2015