Ceo's and You

The website http://www.aflcio.org/corporateamerica/paywatch/index.cfm talks about many different things in the business world. Mostly they concentrate on CEOs and the difference in pay between them and their workers. In 2002 CEO pay increases by 6%, more than twice the growth of their workers paychecks. After clicking on "2002 Trends in CEO Pay," I found that even poorly performing CEOs are rewarded with compensation packages that go way about requirements. As a result, shareholders and even the company lose money.

While CEOs are making the big bucks while even doing poorly, shareholders are losing out. From 2000-2002, shareholders lost over $7 trillion. This is bad because many shareholders of a company are workers for that company and depend on this money for retirement. Every time their stock goes down, they lose retirement money, much like the Enron workers.

Many CEOs do not deserve the big paychecks that they receive. A good way to find out if a company's CEO is actually earning their pay is to check out the company's stocks. If the share price is at the high-end during the end of the 52 week's, then normally the CEO of the company is doing something right and earning his or her money. One can also tell how the company is doing by watching if executives of the company are buying or selling shares. Check out the Wall Street Journal and see if the CEO did better or worse then analysts predictions. If the company did better, the CEO is most-likely earning his or her money.

Since 1980, CEO pay has increased by 1,996% while workers pay has increased by only 66%. If I was making $35,000 in 1996, than by 2005 I would be making $248,458. CEO pay is increasing at incredible rates, while workers struggle to get a pay increase. The workers are who make the company, so why shouldn't workers pay increase at a somewhat closer percentage to the CEO pay increase.

CEOs that put in a lot of effort and show confidence in their company deserve to earn the money that they do. But I am willing to bet that those same CEOs also care about their workers and pay them well. CEOs that do not care about their company and their workers do not deserve to reap the benefits of having the CEO title, because that is all it is, a title. CEO pay is extremely unfair because most do not deserve it, but for the ones who have busted their tails to get to where they are and run a successful company,