I think Jim understood your point. He just disagrees with it, and I am with him on this one. Executive salaries, bonuses, and stock options HAVE become obscene. Gretchen Mortensen of the NY Times won a Pulitzer Prize last year on this very subject, and continues to shine a big probing flashlight on those who deserve it. You're right about Darwinism; it has always been so and always will be. But never has the gap between rich and poor been wider in this country. You can look at someone like Bill Gates or Steve Jobs and say OK, he's rich, but the employees and stockholders have benefited. Where it becomes obscene is when top execs of money-losing or even failed companies walk away with millions of bananas. That's not right. And we need to fix it.


>I understand where you're coming from but I don't think you understand my point.
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>Those with funds get better healthcare, legal coverage, houses, TVs, etc. than those that don't. Gosh, what a surprise.
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>We live in a capitalist society. There's a degree of Darwinism involved. Sad, but true. There has to be a better way than just demonizing the wealthy and attempting to approproate their wealth. That's just as unfair.
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>As to pensions and CEO salaries....no comment. I think it's stupid to limit salaries at any level. Bad business.
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>>SNIP
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>>>My question is...what makes it right to abuse and excoriate the wealthy simply because they are so? A free society is an equal society.
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>>Of course it is wrong - if your second statement was true in fact.
>>But it isn't.
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>>We all know that those with money get different "justice" than those with little. Sure, powerful lawyers also do pro-bono work, but those only create inconsequential exceptions.
>>We all know that those with money get different medical services than those with little. With money, insured or not, you will get there fast, get to where you want and get what you need plus some just to be sure. Those with little may have to get there on their own, are diverted to specific hospitals if by ambulance, and get the minimum care before they are discharged. I understand that in Texas a law was passed last year allowing hospitals to discharge people who have run out of money.
>>We all know that the wealthy have (or can make) connections in Congress and the Executive branch to protect/grow their interests. Those with little get to take the public tours of the buildings.
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>>When executive salaries got to be 400+ TIMES the average salary of the employees they administer, things got seriously out-of-whack.
>>Now executives are stopping pension funds in their tracks, but I'll bet they have handsome pensions written into their own contracts that survive! And pension money they don't even need except that's the "scorecard" for success.
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>>Salaries+bonuses in the tens of millions plus huge pension plans and golden parachutes are obscene and, worse, it's money they cannot actually spend no matter how hard they try.
>>When things get more sensible at the executive end then things can change.