Does "fairness" take sides?

"If the minimum wage had kept pace with the rise in executive salaries since 1990, America's poorest paid workers would today be making more than $23 an hour."

I'm not suggesting the minimum wage should be $23 an hour.  If that were the case we'd never export anything and we'd be covered up with ridiculously cheap imports....which would mean maybe 2 guys would be making $23 an hour and the rest of us would be unemployed.  What I am suggesting is that executives make too much.

How do you maximize profits?  It's easy.  Make people work twice as hard for less pay.  Look around you....that's how business works today.  They cut staffing, increasing everyone else's workload, yet raises (if there are any) barely cover inflation.  Raises for everyone, that is, except the executives.  I don't see this as a liberal / conservative / socialist / capitalist issue.  To me it's just a matter of fairness.  Does "fairness" take sides?

Pendulums swing both ways, you know.   

S

Just thinkin' out loud....

This thing intrigues me:

They're constructing a new multi-story building right behind ours.  I can see it going up from my den windows.  Being a builder myself I'm pretty good at geometry and figuring out how things work, but this crane thing has me baffled.  The large concrete weights hanging off to the right are obviously meant to counter-balance the weight being lifted on the left side.  So far, so good.  But as you lift a load and slide it towards the mast, to maintain balance shouldn't the counter-weights slide in too?  In practice, however, the lifted weight varies and moves, but the counter-weight never does.  Are there some new laws of physics at work here that I missed?  (Maybe I should have paid more attention in class?)

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Yesterday as soon as granddaughter Blakely was born they weighed and measured her, but then a few minutes later they took her to the nursery to "officially" weigh and measure her.  In between times she messed in her diaper and the new mom dutifully cleaned and changed her.  The nurse was slightly upset when she found out because she said this could change the baby's weigh-in.  Turned out to be a non-issue.  Her weight varied by .02 pounds, not enough to matter.  Which got me to thinking....when those little diapers say they're for 6-12 pounders, they're talking about the baby's weight....right??

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Finally, some common sense business news:  Citigroup shareholders have rejected the executive compensation package proposed for their top people.  Their vote isn't binding on the Board of Directors, but they would be fools to NOT take the shareholders views seriously.  'Bout damn time, I say!  These days companies give their CEO's raises if they lose less than expected.  And "retention" bonuses?  If they're running the company into the ground, why would you want to retain them?  If they're in fact as good at what they do as they say they are you'd think they would agree to work for less while they turn things around, just to redeem their exalted reputations.


Maybe I think too much....


S