Sobering Statistics on CEOs in America

While completing my first assignment for this course, I stumbled upon numerous statistics about CEOs in America that were both shocking and eye-opening. According to work.chron.com, the average income for a Fortune 500 CEO in 2012 was $10.5 million (3.5 million of which consisted of the CEOs' salaries and bonuses; 3.8 million went to "personal perk packages" and the remaining 3.2 million came from "exercising vested stock options and awards") as compared $176,550 for the average American CEO. The 2012 top salary earner was John H. Hammergren of McKesson, with a 1-year pay of $131.19 million and $51.6 million in stock shares (according to Forbes.com).   In total, the combined compensation for all CEOs on the Fortune 500 list was 5.2 billion dollars (probably larger than many developing nations' annual budgets).
While these numbers are rather large, perhaps an even more sobering number to look at is the pay ratio, a measure of the CEO's pay as compared to a typical worker. The worst offender in 2012 (according to go.bloomberg.com) was Ronald Johnson, now former CEO of J.C. Penney, whose $53.3 million dollar salary was in stark contrast to the average JC Penney employee salary of $29,688, leading to an astounding pay ratio of 1,795 to 1. While several companies on the list complained to Bloomberg that this ratio used outdated methodology and was false, Johnson did not make a statement.  
If these statistics do not make your blood boil, here's a last set (courtesy of work.chron.com): In 2012, the Fortune 500 CEOs experienced a 16% increase in total compensation while the average American worker only experienced a 3% increase at the same time. What these statistics suggest to me is a rampant case of political interest and corporate greed getting in the way of creating a "healthy" quality of life for millions of Americans. These excessive pay ratios need to be called into question and the structures that allow the perpetuation of corporate greed and power as it stands must be modified and/or dismantled.

Introduction

Hello everyone who happens to stumble upon this blog!

My name is Amanda and I am currently a senior at Rhode Island College pursuing degrees in psychology and chemical dependency/addiction studies (CDAS) and a minor in gender and women's studies. My reasons for taking this course are twofold: to fulfill a requirement for my gender and women's studies minor and to increase my awareness of class issues and how gender, racial and other dimensions of identity intersect with class. My hope is that this course will help me to become a more empathic and competent future clinician by forcing me to reflect on societal and personal constructions of class. 

When I am not in class, I can be found doing any of the following: hanging out with family and friends, reading, knitting, ballroom dancing with my boyfriend, working at my local public library, or suggesting sponges as a cashier at your favorite store. With regards to break, it was busy and went by too fast; however, I am looking forward to the things that this semester has to offer!