In the US, some people make all the money
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Well, here is some good news for Americans who have been waiting for some - chief executives in major US companies got a 36.5-per-cent increase in pay last year, according to a recently released survey of top executive of the Standard & Poor 500 companies
The top winners – US$145 million for the top man of a company that distributes drugs and health and beauty-care products to pharmacies, and $98 million to the former top man of a company that provides drugs to nursing homes and long-term care facilities.
Why do people who sell drugs make so much money?
Not in the survey (of course): the US minimum wage fell about 29 per cent in real terms between 1979 and 2003. But in dollar amounts from 1977 to 1981 it rose to $3.35 per hour and from 2007 to 2009 it rose from $5.15 per hour to $7.25 per hour, where it is today. And I calculate that is about $15,000 a year, at 40 hours a week over 52 weeks.
Make of all that what you will.
Guy Baker
