Wisconsin, Ohio, Indiana, Michigan -- Republicans continue their assault on unions and worker solidarity – and America’s middle class gets mugged. Corporate profits are at the highest % of GDP on record; worker wages are at the lowest % ever. And now the CEOs are using their dough and clout in the name of Fix the Debt to demand LOWER taxes for corporations as part of any deficit reduction package.
What kind of an America do they envision? Take a look at the fastest growing jobs in America. A server at Mickey Ds would have to work 550 years to make the money earned by its CEO in one year. Abysmally paid jobs won’t support a family, won’t build a broad middle class. Taxpayers end up paying for food stamps and health care and tax credits to subsidize the biggest retailers in the world. The American Dream becomes a big lie. The middle class gets crushed. America gets a Gilded Age politics for an era of Gilded Age inequality.
Take a look at this hall of shame. Unions gave us the weekend. Crushing unions is leaving us in misery. Anyone with a pulse and a wit of sense should be outraged about this -- and joining with those fighting what will be the defining civil rights struggle of our time: the right of workers to join together to negotiate decent wages from rapacious employers.
11. DUNKIN' BRANDS
CEO Nigel Travis' total compensation: $2.0 million
Crew member: $7.83 an hour
How long a crew member would have to work to make CEO annual pay: 250,000 hours or 120 years
10. PAPA JOHN'S
CEO John Schnatter's total compensation: $2.7 million.
Average delivery driver salary: $7.19 an hour.
How long a crew member would have to work to make CEO annual pay: 382,000 hours or 184 years.
9. DOLLAR GENERAL
CEO Richard Dreiling's total compensation: $3,832,000.
Average sales associate salary: $7.62 an hour.
How long a crew member would have to work to make CEO annual pay: 503,000 hours or 242 years.
8. BEST BUY
CEO Brian Dunn's total compensation: $7.1 million.
Average sales associate salary: $9.73 an hour.
How long a crew member would have to work to make CEO annual pay: 730,000 hours or 350 years.
7. HOME DEPOT
CEO Francis Blake's total compensation: $10.8 million.
Average sales associate salary: $11.47.
How long a crew member would have to work to make CEO annual pay: 941,000 hours or 452 years.
6. MCDONALD'S
CEO James Skinner's total compensation: $8.8 million.
Average crew member salary: $7.65 an hour.
How long a crew member would have to work to make CEO annual pay: 1.1 million hours or 550 years.
5. CVS CAREMARK CORPORATION
CEO Larry Merlo's: $11.4.
Average cashier salary: $8.86 an hour.
How long a crew member would have to work to make CEO annual pay: 1.3 million hours or 619 years.
4. WALMART
CEO Michael Duke's total compensation: $18.1 million.
Average sales associate salary: $8.84 an hour.
How long a crew member would have to work to make CEO annual pay: 2.1 million hours or 986 years.
3. WENDY'S
CEO Roland Smith's total compensation: $16.5 million.
Average crew member salary: $7.66 an hour.
How long a crew member would have to work to make CEO annual pay: 2.2 million hours or 1038 years.
2. TARGET
CEO Gregg Steinhafel's total compensation: $19.7 million..
Sales floor team member: $8.29.
How long a crew member would have to work to make CEO annual pay: 2.4 million hours or 1,143 years.
1. YUM! BRANDS
CEO David Novak's total compensation: $20.4 million.
Average KFC / Pizza Hut / Taco Bell crew member: $7.50.
How long a crew member would have to work to make CEO annual pay: 2.7 million hours or 1,308 years.
