When the Pope tweeted this week about the profit-at-all-costs mentality that is prevalent in the world today, he got a bit of push-back from one side and a good bit of support from those actually aware of what greed is doing to the US and beyond.

It just so happens there are facts to back up the Pope’s position. Take a look at the article posted Tuesday on Huffington Post, under the headline – “CEO-to-Worker Pay Ratio Ballooned 1,000 Percent Since 1950: Report.”

Bloomberg found Fortune 500 CEOs are raking in 204 times what the average employee earns in pay. The article notes the ratio was 120-to-1 in 2000, 42-to-1 in 1980 and 20-to-1 in 1950.

And this reflects only CEO pay. I wonder where the numbers are for others in the top one percent or so. I am in NO WAY suggesting everyone at the top of the scale in this country is greedy or that they all are bad people. I’m not saying that. But it is clear that we have a major problem. A greedy segment of society is sucking the life out of the economy. The pie is only so big and when a few take a massive bite out of the pie, it bites into what is left for the rest. This is clearly damaging to the economy.

When the middle class and lower-income families have less – basically the bulk of the country – then they buy less. With our consumer-based economy, this means a slower trend and less hiring. The economy falters or treads water. When the middle class and lower-income families have more jobs and/or better-paying jobs and buying power, sales rise, more hiring kicks in and all boats rise.

Consumers are THE job-creators. The Greedy are the job-eaters. The Pope got it right.

 

PACK MENTALITY BLOG: Compassion - teamed with Science and Logic