[IMC-Boston-Editorial] CEO Pay Breaks Through on Hill in Min Wage Bill

[Press Room]

Hello,

Out-of-control CEO pay has made it into the debate on Capital Hill. A
measure to cap executive pay tax deferrals may be included in the
combination minimum wage/tax cut bill the Senate will try to move next week.
We think this is only the beginning.

Public awareness is high. We've been tracking average CEO pay to average
worker pay (now 411 to 1) for 10 years, and our most recent report received
more press attention than ever. Senator Jim Webb even mentioned CEO pay in
his response to the State of the Union.

We believe Congress will be pushed more and more to play a role in
constraining CEO pay -- and rightly so.

Available for comment are:

* Meizhu Lui, executive director of United for a Fair Economy (UFE).

* Mike Lapham, director of UFE's Responsible Wealth project.

* Lee Farris, senior tax organizer at UFE.

See the 2006 report on Executive Excess at
http://www.faireconomy.org/reports/2006/ExecutiveExcess2006.pdf).

Data from the report:
If the minimum wage had risen at the same pace as CEO pay since 1990, it
would be worth $22.61 today, rather than today's actual rate of $5.15, and
still far more than Congress' new 2009 target of $7.25.

Friday's NBC/WSJ poll that shows CEO pay is one of the top seven issues that
disturb Americans: 
http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/poll-01-22-07.pdf
(See Q21, which has CEO pay as one concern and the growing pay divide as
another.)

For background or to schedule interviews, please call me at 617/423-2148 ext
120.

Thanks for considering.

Regards,

Bob

--------------------------
Bob Keener
Communications Director
United for a Fair Economy
www.faireconomy.org
617/423-2148 ext 120
bkeener at faireconomy.org

United for a Fair Economy is an independent national organization
raising awareness about the dangers of growing inequality.
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