Simple Math

How important are the CEOs of companies? Let's use multiplication and division to figure it out!

First, let's find some of the biggest high rollers in business and compare it with the median wage, which is about $33,000.

The CEO at Hewlett Packard made $23,863,744 last year alone. How many people's wages does that equate to? Well, if they were all earning the median wage (which means that 50% of ALL OF AMERICA earns that or LESS) then we'd get 723 people. 723 people could live off of what this jerk off makes all by himself. Let's say that Mr. Doosh Van Hurl spent half of what he makes on our economy (which I doubt he actually does). That's $11,931,872. Those 723 people probably would end up spending a great deal more of their much smaller paychecks. Let's say each of them managed to save $5,000 a year (which is fairly unlikely if they are your average American family). Collectively, they'd save $3,615,000 vs the nearly 12 million that (we estimate, it's probably more) Mr. Hurl is chucking into his investment accounts.

Contrary to the trickle down theory, investment accounts do not translate into money going back to the economy. But those 723 people with their median paychecks are going to put most of their money back into the economy. Which is to say, the massive compensation that CEOs receive doesn't make any sense if we consider how it might benefit the economy as a whole.