This comes from The Nation, September 20, 2010 and is by Kate Murphy.
A recently released study from the Institute for Policy Studies reveals that CEOs of the fifty firms that laid off the most workers since the onset of the recession received 42 percent more pay in 2009 than CEOs at S&P firms.....
In 2009 the fifty CEOs who laid off the most workers received $12 million on average while their peers at S&P 500 companies averaged $8.5 million.
Among the fifty "layoff leaders" was William Weldon of Johnson & Johnson, who took home $25.6 million in 2009, a year in which the company cut 9,000 jobs and recalled well over 100 million bottles of over-the-counter medicine.
Kenneth Chenault of American Express, a company that has laid off 4000 employees since the company received billions in federal bailout funds in 2008, received $16.8 million in 2009, including a $5 million cash bonus.
Mark Hurd of Hewlett-Packard collected a $28 million severance package when he was forced to resign in August amid a sexual harassment investigation. This was on top of a pay package of $24.2 million in 2009, a year in which he cut 6,400 jobs.
While the national unemployment rate has risen to nearly 10%, CEO pay in 2009 more than doubled from the average CEO pay for the 1990's, after being adjusted for inflation.
This is obscene. This is theft.
