http://www.motherjones.com/news/exhibit/2006/05/perks_of_privilege.html
A Look at the Numbers: How the Rich Get Richer By Clara Jeffery IN 1985, THE FORBES 400 were worth $221 billion combined. Today, they're worth $1.13 trillion-more than the GDP of Canada. THERE'VE BEEN FEW new additions to the Forbes 400. The median household income has also stagnated-at around $44,000. AMONG THE FORBES 400 who gave to a 2004 presidential campaign, 72% gave to Bush. IN 2005, there were 9 million American millionaires, a 62% increase since 2002. IN 2005, 25.7 million Americans received food stamps, a 49% increase since 2000. ONLY ESTATES worth more than $1.5 million are taxed. That's less than 1% of all estates. Still, repealing the estate tax will cost the government at least $55 billion a year. ONLY 3% OF STUDENTS at the top 146 colleges come from families in the bottom income quartile; only 10% come from the bottom half. BUSH'S TAX CUTS GIVE a 2-child family earning $1 million an extra $86,722-or Harvard tuition, room, board, and an iMac G5 for both kids. A 2-CHILD family earning $50,000 gets $2,050-or 1/5 the cost of public college for one kid. THIS YEAR, Donald Trump will earn $1.5 million an hour to speak at Learning Annex seminars. ADJUSTED FOR INFLATION, the federal minimum wage has fallen 42% since its peak in 1968. IF THE $5.15 HOURLY minimum wage had risen at the same rate as CEO compensation since 1990, it would now stand at $23.03. A MINIMUM WAGE employee who works 40 hours a week for 51 weeks a year goes home with $10,506 before taxes. SUCH A WORKER would take 7,000 years to earn Oracle CEO Larry Ellison's yearly compensation. ELLISON RECENTLY posed in Vanity Fair with his $300 million, 454-foot yacht, which he noted is "really only the size of a very large house." ONLY THE WEALTHIEST 20% of Americans spend more on entertainment than on health care. THE $17,530 EARNED by the average Wal-Mart employee last year was $1,820 below the poverty line for a family of 4. 5 OF AMERICA'S 10 richest people are Wal-Mart heirs. PUBLIC COMPANIES spend 10% of their earnings compensating their top 5 executives. 1,730 BOARD MEMBERS of the nation's 1,000 leading companies sit on the boards of 4 or more other corporations-including half of Coca-Cola's 14-person board. THE BIDDER who won a round of golf with Tiger Woods for $30,100 at a 2004 Buick charity auction could deduct all but about $200. TIGER MADE $87 million in 2005, all but $12 million from endorsements and appearance fees. THE 5TH LEADING philanthropist last year was Boone Pickens, in part due to his $165 million gift to Oklahoma State University's golf program. WITHIN AN HOUR, OSU invested it in a hedge fund Pickens controls. Thanks to a Katrina relief provision, his "gift" was also 100% deductible. LAST YEAR 250 COMPANIES gave top execs between $50,000 and $1 million worth of wholly personal flights on corporate jets. THIS PERK is 66% more costly to companies whose CEO belongs to out-of-state golf clubs. THE U.S. GOVERNMENT spends $500,000 on 8 security screeners who speed execs from a Wall Street helipad to American's JFK terminal. UNITED HAS CUT the pensions and salaries of most employees but promised 400 top executives 8% of the shares it expects to issue upon emerging from bankruptcy. UNITED'S TOP 8 execs will also get a bonus of between 55% and 100% of their salaries. IN 2002, "turnaround artist" Robert Miller dumped Bethlehem Steel's pension obligation, allowing "vulture investor" Wilbur L. Ross to buy steel stock and sell it at a 1,000% profit. IN 2005, DELPHI HIRED Miller for $4.5 million. After Ross said he might buy Delphi if its labor costs fell, Miller demanded wage cuts of up to 63% and dumped the pension obligation. 10 FORMER ENRON directors agreed to pay shareholders a $13 million settlement-which is 10% of what they made by dumping stock while lying about the company's health. POOR AMERICANS spend 1/4 of their income on residential energy costs. EXXON'S 2005 PROFIT of $36.13 billion is more than the GDP of 2/3 of the world's nations. CEO PAY AMONG military contractors has tripled since 2001. For David Brooks, the CEO of bulletproof vest maker DHB, it's risen 13,233%. AT THE $10 MILLION bat mitzvah party Brooks threw his daughter last year, guests got $1,000 gift bags and listened to Aerosmith, Kenny G., Tom Petty, Stevie Nicks, and 50 Cent-who reportedly sang, "Go shorty, it's your bat mitzvah, we gonna party like it's your bat mitzvah." FOR PERFORMING IN the Live 8 concerts to "make poverty history," musicians each got gift bags worth up to $12,000. OSCAR PERFORMERS and presenters collectively owe the IRS $1,250,000 on the gift bags they got at the 2006 Academy Awards ceremony. A DOG FOOD COMPANY provided "pawdicures" and other spa treatments to pets of celebrities attending the 2006 Sundance Film Festival. ONE OF MADONNA'S recent freebies: $10,000 mink and diamond-tipped false eyelashes. PARIS HILTON, who charges clubs $200,000 to appear for 20 minutes, stiffed Elton John's AIDS benefit the $2,500-per-plate fee she owed. ACCORDING TO Radar magazine, Owen Wilson was paid $100,000 to attend a Mercedes-Benz-sponsored Hamptons polo match. When other guests tried to speak with him, he reportedly said, "That's not my job." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SpamWall: Mail to this addy is deleted unread unless it contains the keyword "igve". _______________________________________________ Futurework mailing list [email protected] http://fes.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
