tps://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/040615/what-country-has-richest-middle-class.asp
Based on gross.
What about after the government takes it's ever increasing taxes, levies and services? Taking over half my check in those things doesn't leave me feeling much like the richest middle class.
Well, even some of the billionaires such as Warren Buffett argue that taxes should be much higher for people in their income bracket. Mind you, during the Eisenhower years, the highest income bracket was at 91% on salaries over $200,000, back when that amount of money was quite a lot. Idiots like Ocasio-Cortez argue that the U.S. should return to a tax rate like that, which would likely result in the high end money makers coming up with sophisticated tax dodges. Compare that with Ronald Reagan‘s tax gift to the wealthy, which was supposed to result in a trickle down of the money made at the top so that the masses would benefit. Sounds good, but it didn’t happen. The rich only got richer and held on to most of their extra money.
Forbes Magazine reported last year that the CEO-to-median-worker pay ratio as of 2020 is 235 to 1. Does any CEO deserve to be paid 235 times what the average worker in his/her company earns? It didn’t use to be that way. In the 1950s that differential was about 20 to 1.
Not too many years ago a relative of mine took a job at Home Depot in Toronto. The company had been founded a few decades earlier in the U.S.. Pay had been fairly competitive, stock options for employees had been decent, they could get merchandise discounts several times a year and they were known for not laying off employees. Then things changed. A new CEO came in who had been tutored by Jack Welch (known for his rank-and-yank theory) when he was Chairman and CEO of General Electric. The new guy decided to place more emphasis on ”enhancing shareholder value”. He also significantly improved the perqs for middle and top management. However, at the same time, he cut back on salary increases for the retail workers and reduced inventory levels. He allowed the number of workers to decline, forcing the existing staff to work harder and harder. And he eliminated the employee discounts. Yet, despite the CEO’s assurances that profits would improve, they didn’t. Share prices fell substantially. Customers weren’t happy according to surveys done. The employees weren’t happy either.
Eventually the Board of Directors decided enough was enough and terminated his employment…he had been earning a salary of $2.3 million yearly. But like other CEOs of large companies, most of what he made was in compensation from sources other than salary (e.g.bonuses, non-equity incentive pay, stock options, etc. Anyway, the Board finally terminated him and gave him a severance package worth $210 million. Yes, $210 million for doing, not a good job, but a bad job.
In the meantime, Home Depot’s board basically said to the employees, “Sorry, we can’t afford you now…some of you are going to have to go.” As a result, for the first time ever, Home Depot laid off employees. Over 3,000,of them, in fact…people who would have taken the money and spent it on their daily needs and added to the economy. Anyway, I would be surprised if the combined salaries of those employees would have been more than the $210 million the CEO got in severance pay for doing a bad job. Later, when a reported asked the Board why the fired CEO got that much severance the answer was that it was in his contract. And who signed the contract with the CEO? The Board.
Oh yes, what happened to the fired CEO? He became CEO of Chrysler. Shortly afterwards that company went into bankruptcy protection. A last minute financial lifeline involving loan packages (I think the Canadian and Ontario governments were involved) was extended to Chrysler, thereby saving them. But one of the conditions was that their CEO had to leave. That man was Bob Nardelli.
I’m not anti-business. But I do think corporate America has done a lot to ruin the American Dream for so many. Hedge funds, leveraged buyouts and overall greed on Wall Street has taken a huge toll on Main Street. I agree that taxes on the average person should not be increased. But I do feel that those individuals and corporations with extreme wealth should pay their share. It’s only fair considering that the average person has gone through.
Politics aside, there’s a lot of things America needs to do to heal its fractures.
