Whose money is it?

Recently my girlfriend and I were listening to liberal talk radio and unfortunately, she was hoodwinked. Not to worry, I set her straight, but it is an interesting lesson in economic fallacies and the liberal mind.

The topic du jour was executive pay, and its exorbitance, especially relative to the lowest paid worker. In the 1970's a CEO got paid roughly 30 times that of the janitor, but today, that ratio has skyrocketed to roughly 10 times what it was. Even I have to admit, that's a lot of money.

But here's the interesting point. The radio host effectively convicted CEO's because they made so much more than the rest of the employees. The CEO sits on his behind all day and steals from the janitor who works his behind off all day. It's just unfair.

To whom? Unfair to the janitor? Unfair to the other employees?

Who pays the janitor, the engineer, and the CEO? The owners, that's who. The owners decide to pay the CEO a lot of money, and they decide to pay the janitors and everyone else a lot less. And if anyone is getting ripped off, it's the owners. They are the ones whose profit goes down as CEO pay goes up.

Curiously, the radio host never cries for the owners. He will never cry for them, because in his mind, the profits don't belong to them either. His only goal is to incite envy and hatred in order to justify rage which he can channel. Yes, CEO's get paid a lot. But they didn't take it from you or me, and they certainly didn't steal it from the janitor.