Taxing the Top
In a world in which some people keep getting way more than they need, while others can hardly get by, Robin Hood starts to look better and better.
The New York Times has a nice chart showing how CEOs from public companies are making out like bandits with massive pay raises even while their bottom lines plummet.
Some tidbits: ArcherDanielsMidland CEO Patricia A. Woertz saw her compensation jump 397% to $15 million from 2007 to 2008 while profits fell 17%.
Data giant EMC's CEO Joseph M. Tucci a 148% raise in 2008 to $11.7 million while the company lost money.
On a similar note, Paul Krugman laments that compensation for investment bankers is zooming back up to levels from pre-meltdown days. As he notes:
--d.f.