Corporate CEOs in America Should Be Paid Less

I originally issued this challenge to Danielle, until I found out we were advocating the same side. I've since made this debate impossible to accept. If you are interested in debating CON for the resolution, please let me know in the comments section, thank you.The subject matter deals with this forum topic:$8.25 per hour vs. $8.75 million per year http://debate.org... The OP:Bloomberg has this story up showcasing the chasm between workers and executive pay:http://www.bloomberg.com......The CEO of McDonalds is compared to a worker who grew up in a similar neighborhood, yet one person makes a ton of money while the other has to shuffle jobs just to get by.Is this an appropriate state of affairs? Is it justifiable to pay someone enough to have them pay their rent, and little else, all the while the head honcho makes so much that the laborers who fuel the fast food industry profits "would need about a million hours of work -- or more than a century on the clock -- to earn the $8.75 million that McDonald"s, based in the Chicago suburb of Oak Brook, paid then- CEO Jim Skinner last year..."? DiscussionDuring the discussion, innomen made the following assertion:You are comparing two different things that aren't even in the same universe (hyperbole, not literally). The person who is cleaning off the table isn't held accountable daily to the stock price of a fortune 100 company, nor is he held responsible for past, present and future performance of this company, whose investment worth impacts thousands, if not millions of people, and should this performance slip, you can be sure that his job is on the line. He is responsible for the overall direction of this massive corporation, and the make up of its workforce. The very image of this company lies within the grasp of the CEO. To say that the guy behind the counter is the same, or should be considered in the same light as the CEO is beyond absurd, it's just ignorant to how things work in the corporate world. My contention, especially from the perspective of an investor, is that CEOs simply do not deserve the mammoth pay packages that are being awarded today in corporate America. I am frankly surprised that anyone could possibly justify such outlandish pay scales, unless they were second in line for similar treatment. The Resolution:Corporate CEOs in America Should Be Paid LessPay can be salary, options, perks and benefits, golden parachutes, anything and everything associated with executive pay.Corporate CEOs is self explanatory. However, for the sake of argument, to be consistent with the original forum topic, and to highlight the real pay disparities in corporate America, I will limit CEOs to only those working for S&P 500 companies.Current or prior listing on the index is fine, but all arguments regarding CEOs of specific companies must be relevant during the time that their company was listed as part of the index. For example:Palm, Inc., was spun off from 3Com Inc. (itself a S&P 500 company at the time), in March 2000, [1] and was subsequently listed on the S&P 500 in July 2000. [3] However, due to the dot-com bust and PALM's underperformance, PALM was subsequently delisted from the index in August 2002. [2] Therefore, CEO pay of PALM after August 2002 is irrelevant to this debate.This measure is aimed to prevent comparisons between CEOs piloting defunct and failed corporations and their more robust and successful counterparts. This measure still fully allows for the possible argument that underpaid CEOs ruined a once-high-flying company due to lack of motivation.As long as the debate focuses on well-known publicly traded companies, adhering to this stipulation should be easy and painless."Less" means less than they are today, by a non-trivial amount.Burden of proof on this matter will be shared.Rules:Round 1 - discussion/acceptance only, no arguments.Round 2/3/4 - arguments, counters, and rebuttalsRound 5 - closing statements, no new arguments or citations. 8,000 character limit, 3 days for responses, 1 week voting period.I wish my opponent luck on this matter and look forward to an invigorating debate. Cheers. [1] http://news.cnet.com...[2] http://news.cnet.com...[3] http://www.palminfocenter.com...