The World's Cookies....

When you look at the data, it's hard to see why the current protests have only started recently.

Back in 1970, the average CEO made about 25x the financial compensation of the average production worker. By 2000, the average CEO was making 90x more than the average worker. If you include stock options, etc., that disparity jumped to 500x.

In one specific example, in Wisconsin, the top CEOs made 592x the financial compensation of the average worker. In 2010, CEOs were rewarded with a 23% increase in their salaries.

Obviously, not everyone has been standing still in their standard of living over the past couple of decades.

In the neighbouring state of Michigan, the last governor was faced with massive budget deficits during her first term. A controversy arose when she accused advocates of cuts to higher education and social programs of abandoning the true tenets of their professed faith. Manufacturing jobs in Michigan have been disappearing for years.

I understand, from an interview I heard recently, that the corporate headquarters of Johnson & Johnson has a "corporate creed" inscribed on a piece of stone. It reads, approximately: The consumer comes first. Our employees come second. The community we live and work in comes third. The shareholder comes last, but they shouldn't worry, because if we look after the first three, the shareholders will get a fair return on their investment.

Maybe it's time we shifted back to some "old-fashioned corporate values".

Meanwhile, here in BC, we have the highest child poverty rate in the country. Figures from 2007 to 2008 did show a slight improvement in this dismal situation, but with the economic meltdown that started later in 2008, more recent numbers probably won't be pleasant to see. For children under 6, nearly 20% live below the poverty line. That's nearly one in five children during the most vulnerable years of their short lives.

We probably can't expect corporations to shift their priorities. They aren't instruments of social policy. That's the job for governments. It's time they started to focus on the people they were elected to serve.