In his DailyKos post “CEO Moochers” from Dec. 9th Leo Gerard correctly points out that the middle class (and the working poor I may add) is financing the astronomically high pay of the richest CEOs. He points to a recent report by the Center for Effective Government and the Institute for Policy Studies called “Fleecing Uncle Sam”.
The average pay of 29 of the 100 top-paid CEOs is $32 million, per year. These folks and the rest of the 1% are not paying their fair share in taxes. Gerard adds:
That means middle class taxpayers helped cover the cost of million-dollar pay packages for CEOs. Middle class taxpayers, whose median family income is $51,324 and whose federal income taxes are withdrawn directly from their checks before they see a cent of pay, support CEOs who pull down $32 million a year.
He’s right, it’s terrible, we know it, Occupy reminded us. So what do we do? We can raise awareness, we can start campaigns, we can support certain legislation, we can vote for progressive politicians, we can march on Washington, and we can camp out in Zuccotti Park. All extremely important.
We can also join business to help move away for profit maximization and growth and towards working for the common good. May sound naïve, may sound like greenwashing or some bogus CSR thing. If done correctly, I am convinced, an ethics-based “scorecard” for companies can transform our economy. It has to be; comprehensive, measurable, comparable, understandable, mandatory, require external audits, made public and legally binding.
Chris Bryant from the Financial Times just recently reported about the
Economy for the Common Good, a movement working towards this transition:
What is the purpose of business? Many executives would say their task is to maximise returns for shareholders by serving the needs of customers, perhaps with social benefits as a byproduct.
However, a growing number of companies believe their fundamental purpose is to serve the common good – and the way they report their activities to the outside world needs to change to reflect this function.
[…]
ECG’s aims are radical: it wants to bring about a comprehensive overhaul of our current economic system. Mr Felber [one of the movement’s founders] would like to see limits on private property and earnings, and a ban on hostile takeovers, dividends and financial speculation. He also believes ethical companies should get cheaper loans, pay lower taxes and receive priority in public procurement.
The idea is pretty simple: in a fundamentally democratic process a set of indicators is developed to measure how much a company serves the common good. The first versions of these indicators have been developed in a so-called
Common Good Matrix. Trained auditors check the results and an “ethics scorecard” is published. Stakeholders have a clear, understandable, measurable picture of the company. Consumers, business partners, public institutions and governments can easily judge the validity of an enterprises claims of being green, fair and social. Cities or regional governments can later give preferential treatment to firms scoring high on the common good chart. Public banks can give common good business better conditions on loans.
Over time we will see a race to the top. Companies no longer acting in servitude to their shareholders but striving to serve society.