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Yes indeed Howard I think we spoke about the widening gap in pay rates between workers and the executive floor a few months ago when the latest figures were released. The pay on the shop floor remains roughly on par, whereas the executive pay has soared...so the gap continues to widen and with very little justification, as very often the talent at the top is very moderate indeed.
Its not strictly true what BarryW says there. The rich dont create wealth for the rest of us, some do. Perhaps the entrepreneurial Alan Sugar and the few like him. but generally super-rich executives are very well paid and are often very bad indeed. They create nothing.
And speaking of the very bad..one need gaze no further than the bankers..Fred Goodwin perhaps, massive salary, massive bonus, massive payout when forcefully retired...someone tell me he shouldnt pay a 50p rate in tax.
But lets not overfocus on the bankers, as maybe an argument could be made that they were hit by this crushing banking collapse and werent entirely to blame. But since Ive been following business, since I came here to London all those years ago.. Ive seen countless rubbish company executives ruin businesses and still walk away with their pockets stuffed with bonuses and pay-offs, even though they were talentless. I had several investments in city institutions over those years, and there's nothing quite like that for focusing the mind. And my gawd Ive seen some turkeys.
There was far too much pay for far too little talent in a lot of cases. The shop floor made the money but lost their jobs. The executives lost the company, but walked off into comfortable very fat cat rich retirement. They created nothing.
Let them pay top rate tax.
The streets of London may indeed be paved with gold but they are also paved with the bones of broken executives who were rubbish at what they did but still ended up as rich as Cresus..