The economy's recovered! For CEOs, that is. Exec pay is way, way, way up in America. 40% up. One CEO, John Hammergren at McKesson, took home $145M. The money-quote: "Bosses won in every area, with dramatic increases in pensions, payoffs and perks – as well as salary." Even for fired CEOs, it was a good year, with huge parachutes spun from finest gold.

  • lavardera

    pitchforks at the back of the van, torches as the side door, stay in line, there are plenty for everybody

    • Finnagain

      I’m going to set up a little guillotine cart.

      • Antinous / Moderator

        You could call it the Defargenator 3000™.

        • Donald Petersen

          “That’s not supposed to happen.”

  • http://twitter.com/circa1977 Mark J. Reeves

    Related: The top 1% are spending enough to make up for the rest of us.

    http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2011/12/14/luxury_spending_reaches_prerecession_levels/

  • Zero Sonico

    USA is so funny.

  • http://evilbobdayjob.blogspot.com/ Deidzoeb

    SRSLY, this is what I worry about when pundits or politicians talk about economic recovery or whether this “special period” technically qualifies as a depression or recession. Maybe some states or counties or neighborhoods are experiencing a depression, others are doing okay. Are they thinking of all people, or excluding some of us as unpeople? Seems like they’re mainly considering how well the top 20% are doing. For people who need a job to get by, how are they recovering in a “jobless recovery”?

  • Thad Boyd

    Dammit, when will people stop trying to burden our job creators?!

  • djfrantz

    oh thank god.  I was so worried about them making it through this difficult holiday season.  

    • Navin_Johnson

      I suggest we all pray for them and that their rising tide lifts the other 1%’s yachts.

  • Cowicide

    This is class warfare and they’re certainly winning.  Meanwhile another 44,000 Americans will suffer and die in agony this year because of our current, corrupt, privatized health “care” system.

  • atimoshenko

    We are now even no longer in a capitalist economy, but in a rent-seeking one. Something has to give.

  • Lobster

    Guess they’re stuffing their pockets before they abandon ship.

    • Alan Olsen

       Maybe we can convince them that the rocket pointed into the heart of the sun actually goes to a new unspoiled world filled with natural resources.

      • Lobster

        Maybe.  Branson’ll probably want to take his own space ship but he seems like a pretty decent guy anyway.

  • querent

    Lao Tzu I think it was who said, “In a just society, it is shameful to be poor.  In a corrupt society, it is shameful to be rich.”

    • elsuperjeffe

      i think you have that backwards.

      • aeon

        Pretty sure he doesn’t.

        Lao Tzu is saying that if society is truly just then it’s your own fault if you’re poor, so you should be ashamed of your poverty. While if society is corrupt and you are rich then your riches rely on that corruption, so you should be ashamed of your corruptly acquired riches.

  • ToMajorTom

    I’m glad McKesson and Hammergren’s yearly windfall was mentioned.  (I work there.)  I’m sure this fact is comforting to the 174 who were laid off last week.  (True, McKesson as a whole is HUGE and 174 is barely a dent, but the business unit that those 174 were from is not huge and is a sizable number.)

    • blissfulight

      (Mouth drops.)

  • peregrinus

    Mission statement divergence focus moment!

    ‘McKesson is the trusted healthcare technology solutions and services provider dedicated to helping its customers deliver high-quality healthcare by reducing costs, streamlining processes, and improving the quality and safety of patient care.’ [.co.uk]

    ‘McKesson helps health care providers improve business health and deliver better care to patients. As a pharmaceutical distributor and health care information technology company, McKesson provides systems for medical supply management, clinical workflow, practice management, pharmacy automation and care management.’ [.com]

    Aw shucks they’ve taken away the ‘reducing costs’ bit in the US!

  • Brainspore

    It would be worth the cost to give them parachutes made of actual gold if it meant we got to shove them out of those corporate jets at 40,000 feet. We could even stick a couple of gold bricks in their pockets while we’re at it.

    • Guest

      you solution would in fact be much cheaper. 

  • JProffitt71

    Hey, on the topic of income inequality and how it should be addressed, I encountered this post. I realized I could not in good conscience keep it to myself: http://www.themultitude.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=361&sid=a7caa7830de2919627814e34e021b11a&start=45#p2802 

    Nothing I say here could do this apt summary of the past couple decades justice.

  • joeposts

    I wouldn’t mind their exorbitant incomes if there was a nice fat 95% tax on it.

    Just sayin’.

  • Guest

    Okay, fuck this. Onward socialist workers paradise. Whatever it takes.

  • http://twitter.com/bazimmerman Brad Zimmerman

    In the new trickle-down economy, you will have to break their windows, steal their cars, physically assault them and burn down their pool houses in order to ensure that you and your fellow 99ers have plenty of work in the windows-n-glass replacement sector, automobile, insurance and junk yard sectors, chiropractic and security sectors and, last but not least, general contracting, firefighting and forestry sectors.

    Leeching:  the fastest growing sector of them all.

    • http://boingboing.net/ The Life Of Bryan

      When something doesn’t trickle as expected, it sometimes helps to either heat up the container a bit or whack it a few times.

    • TheMudshark

      a classic.

  • blissfulight

    I’ll all for paying executives whatever they like, so long as the Fed government gets 99% of it.

  • TheMudshark

    You have to admit, it HAS been a very stressful time for them, with the unsightly poor people camping out across the street and whatnot. A downright headache!

  • 10xor01

    Once again, Lemmy knows best:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h45WnW0ASFY

    After all, if they had the chance, I’m sure they’d eat you.

  • http://twitter.com/Ms_Phillips Ms_Phillips

    The top 1% own just under 50% of America’s wealth.  The good news:  adults under 30 are split 50 to 50 on capitalism vs. socialism.