An update on America's wealthy.

America's wealthy just got wealthier. A report out today tells us that America's CEO's will receive, on average, 23% more than they received last year!

It is of interest to know that the average American worker received a pay raise of one half of 1% last year!

So CEO's, some of America's wealthiest individuals, received a pay raise that was 46 times as much as the average American worker received! Their "compensation", as they like to call it is 343 times the pay of the average worker in their company! (in 1980 they made 42 times their median workers salary.) This is the most unbalanced ratio to be found anywhere in the industrialized world.

Companies were required to report their CEO to worker pay ratio, but last month the GOP voted to repeal that provision. Doubtless their "Friends" on Wall Street asked for that to avoid too much embarrassment. And of course they, Congress, obliged.

The US Congress, the best Congress that money can buy! Exxon spent $28 million "lobbying" Congress last year. (I call it bribing) And Lo and Behold they ended up paying NO tax at all - in spite of making $53 Billion in profits!

I made $39,000 last year and paid hundreds of times more in taxes than Exxon paid! In fact my tax bill was hundreds of times more than at least 25 HUGE US companies COMBINED, they paid NO taxes at all. GE for example received a $1.1 Billion tax credit. The Bank of America received a $1.9 Billion tax credit. And yet we keep hearing from places like Fox "News" that the tax rate on US Companies is confiscatory. That we can't compete with the rest of the world because of our "high" tax rate!

Not only is the tax rate on US Companies laughable, so to is the top tax rate on our wealthy. At 35% it is the lowest in about 60 years, and is also the lowest of any industrialized country in the world. Not that the tax rate affects the rich much anyway, while the average American worker pays 30% of his income in taxes the average tax hit on the top 2% of American is just 16%!!! (Don't forget the GOP mantra - "Lets cut taxes on the rich." "They create Jobs.") And if you believe that I have this bridge in Brooklyn that I would like to sell you! They, the rich, did not get rich by creating jobs, they got rich by laying off their workers which increased the "Profit" of their company and gave them a nice multi million dollar bonus. Then they sent jobs overseas, which cuts their companies costs even more, and gets them another multi million dollar bonus. Then they use some of that money to bribe Congress to fight for tax cuts for the rich! Doubtless it does not hurt that most of our Congressmen and women, are rich too.

Talk about putting the fox in charge of the hen house!