executive pay

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    Culture Wars, Class Loot

    ByHarlan Quill

    You got culture wars. They got class war. The system keeps you mad at teachers, mad at immigrants, mad at books—because that’s a nice, loud menu item that fits in a push notification. Meanwhile the part with the grown-ups happens off to the side: while CEO pay goes through the roof, your cost of living keeps climbing like it’s on auto-renew.

    Then comes the RSVP question: “Distracted yet? That was the point.” Inside the Trump Tower-style executive lounge, it’s gold access, bonuses up, workers last—while “We trust Trump” plays like the customer-service script. If they keep you distracted, you’ll never notice who’s picking your pocket; you’ll be too busy auditing morals to audit the incentives.

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    Productivity Went Up—Pay Didn’t Keep Up (So Who Collected the Difference?)

    ByHugh Jass

    Productivity went up. Pay didn’t keep up. Coincidence? Absolutely not—Exhibit A had a pulse. The file says for decades beginning in the 1940s, productivity and compensation marched together, then the 1970s came and—per the BLS-backed timeline—things steadily diverged, with the “gap” indexed to 1948 showing real hourly compensation falling behind as output climbed.

    So what do workers “see,” besides more output, more speed, and more pressure? The same old version of the economy’s magic trick: margins, bonuses, buybacks, and stock gains in the hands of “the top,” while the checkbook refuses to catch up. The gap isn’t natural. It’s a choice—just one with a beneficiary already paid and a workforce politely told to call it inevitable, even when the paperwork is sitting there blinking $25,000,000 like a notarized receipt.

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