[Peace-discuss] Corporate executives prosper while most others struggle

[Szoke, Ron]

C.E.O. Pay Remains Stratospheric, Even at Companies Battered by Pandemic
While millions of people struggled to make ends meet, many of the companies hit hardest in 2020 showered their executives with riches.
By David Gelles
NYT  April 24, 2021  [  excerpted passim ]

     The coronavirus plunged the world into an economic crisis, sent the U.S. unemployment rate skyrocketing and left millions of Americans struggling to make ends meet. Yet at many of the companies hit hardest by the pandemic, the executives in charge were showered with riches.
    The divergent fortunes of C.E.O.s and everyday workers illustrate the sharp divides in a nation on the precipice of an economic boom but still racked by steep income inequality. The stock markets are up and the wealthy are spending freely, but millions are still facing significant hardship. Executives are minting fortunes while laid-off workers line up at food banks.
   “Many of these C.E.O.s have improved profitability by laying off workers,” said Senator Elizabeth Warren, Democrat of Massachusetts, who has proposed new taxes on the ultrawealthy. “A tiny handful of people who have shimmied all the way to the top of the greasy pole get all of the rewards, while everyone else gets left behind.”    .   .   .  
   The gap between executive compensation and average worker pay has been growing for decades. Chief executives of big companies now make, on average, 320 times as much as their typical worker, according to the Economic Policy Institute. In 1989, that ratio was 61 to 1. From 1978 to 2019, compensation grew 14 percent for typical workers. It rose 1,167 percent for C.E.O.s.   .   .   .
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David Gelles is the Corner Office columnist and a business reporter. Follow him on LinkedIn and Twitter. @dgelle
A version of this article appears in print on April 25, 2021 of the New York edition with the headline: Despite Losses, C.E.O.s Prosper Amid Pandemic.
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