Show Me The Money! (Part 1)

Show Me the Money: Intro (this will be a multi-post theme)

Minions, I am going to continue with my economic kick because I have recently noticed a negative and ignorant sentiment underway in this great nation. That sentiment is wrong, and has its underlying root in greed, and covetousness. I don’t mean to sound like I'm preaching from a pulpit or anything but yes covetousness really does apply in this case.

People are beginning to refer to the millions of dollars that the big bad CEO's are making as "excessive". I understand why this idea is gaining ground (especially recently), namely: thousands of workers every month are being laid off (1,200,000 million this year according to Fortune Magazine - That is a scary big number); and according to 2007 Money Magazine article, the average compensation of a CEO ($10,800,000 - yes, that is a lot of zero's) was 270 times larger than the average compensation of a full-time year-round worker in a non-managerial job ($40,000).

Now before we get all emotional and grab pitch forks, we must take a quick step back and determine what on earth would possess a corporation to pay a CEO so much more than they pay everyone else. We will accomplish this step-by-step enabling my minions to see the big picture (if your still not convinced you then have my permission to riot with pitch forks in the streets - also did I mention that I sell pitch forks?). To understand this "excessive pay" we must look at what exactly a corporation is...