The package struck some union activists as so outrageous during a time that their own jobs were being trimmed that they made a proposal to the stockholders to place limits on future Executive handouts. The proposal, something that would have been unheard of in the past, garnered almost ten percent of the vote among the voting group of mostly well heeled major stockholders of the company. Clearly, even this most receptive audience was beginning to be concerned about the growing wealth inequality that their own policies and decisions were helping to create. At the same time this skirmish in the wealth inequality war was underway, workers at GE's plant in Lynn with more than 20 years seniority were losing their jobs. And GE is no isolated example.
Executive pay is one starting point for an analysis of the wealth gap in the United States.
While Executives have long done considerably better than their workers, the differences have risen most dramatically in the last few years. In 1990, CEO's in the United States earned an already almost unbelievable 100 times the average wage of their workers. But apparently that wasn't good enough for them. For the first time this issue is generating some serious debate and serious concern among the American public. A recent poll indicates that 77 per cent of American's believe that CEO's are overpaid and more than half said they were angry or extremely angry about pay disparities between executives and their workers.