Income Inequality and Me, Or My Life as CEO
By Chad A. B. Wilson
Published February 1, 2007, 2:08 pm in News, Ethics, Morality, & Justice, Economic Issues.
Income inequality is something that us middle class folks think about a lot. It's like this:
It Must Be Nice
I remember a few years ago when a friend told me and someone else that she had just spent a week in the Bahamas. The other person made the common remark "must be nice." We hear it and say it all the time, but it really is a middle-class sentiment. A person with "enough" money can go to the Bahamas whenever he or she wants. There's no ill will there. The person might say, "Wow, sounds like fun." Or "Man, I wish I had the time." Or maybe some other sentiment. A person without enough money can't even fathom it. It's not even on the radar. These people struggle to provide enough food and adequate shelter, so going on vacation is out of the question. They may be bitter about the inequality, but the sentiment probably does not express itself in the phrase "must be nice." In may come out in anger, denial, or even ignoring the statement.
But other middle-class people can go if they really wanted to. While a rich person can go whenever he or she wants, the middle-class person (especially lower-to-middle middle class) has to work to be able to go. He has to either take the kids with him or find someone to care for them. He has to save enough money or simply be willing to spend money in the bank that could be used for something else, like a new car. He has to finish up his workload so that he can take a week off. It's quite difficult, but it's feasible.
The bitterness expressed in the phrase "must be nice" isn't quite good-heartened, but it's due to the fact that the person knows he could go if circumstances were different. If he didn't have a child who needed so much attention... If his car weren't seven years old... If his air conditioner wasn't about to go out... If he wasn't working on such a big project... And the list goes on.
Middle class people have money in the bank, after all, but they're generally reluctant to spend it. It's the rainy day syndrome, and all of us middle classers have been taught its importance. It has become ingrained by our middle-class or even lower-class ethic.
It's Really about Decisions
So I wonder about income inequality. Bush just came out and acknowledged the existence of such of thing, and it's a wonder that it hasn't happened before. If he had asked me, I would have told him it's been going on for a long time. All of us middle class people know of its injustice.
It's like this: education does not equal lots of money, but it can if the circumstances work out. I'm not talking about people who do not have college degrees, and I'm reluctant to even talk about those people. Often, they are in a cycle that is difficult to break, and our government needs to come out and help them.
Here, I'm talking about college-educated people. Think of the sociology major in a major research university. That person is getting a good education. He or she is learning how to analyze, how to write, how to conduct research, and how to deal with people, as well as some nifty stuff about cultures. Now think of the business major in the same school. He or she learns the same skills with some added business stuff thrown in.
Which will make more money when they graduate?
Nothing says that either one will necessarily make more money, actually. The business major could go on to work for a nonprofit organization for very little pay, and the sociology could go into human resources and work up the ladder.
So it's all really about choice.
Now think of the CEO of X corporation. That person probably has a BA in some business field along with an MBA. He or she may make several hundred thousand a year depending on the size of the company. My wife has the same degrees, and she works as a career counselor for a university.
Does she make the same amount of money. Nope.
Is that income inequality?
Sure is. But is it important? No. Because it's about choice. People who have opportunities make choices about their majors. They make choices about their jobs. They make choices about their priorities and what will make them happy. Is one necessarily smarter than the other? No, but the two individuals made their choices and they have to live with them.
It doesn't stop the "must be nice" syndrome, though. We middle classers think often about the inequality of people with the same or less education than us that make tons more money. "Must be nice to make that kind of money," we say. What we really mean is "Dang it, I chose poorly!" For we could have gone that route. We could have made different decisions and had the same amount of money. But after so long, us middle classers feel as if we're stuck. The decisions eventually run out and can no longer be changed. The statute of limitations expires.
What Income Inequality Really Means
That's not what Bush is talking about when he mentions income inequality. He's talking about the people stuck in the bottom rungs who can forsee no way out. The decisions aren't even available. They have effectively been made for them due to their parents, their status, their schools, etc.
And yet I, with my university degrees, have no problem thinking about the injustice of CEOs. What I should be thinking about it the injustice of myself and my position. I am privileged; I know that. But I don't like to think about it. I would much rather think about how so many people have it better than me. How sad.
I read somewhere that CEOs are like sports stars. It doesn't really make sense to us why X player gets millions of dollars a year. Couldn't the team higher ten lesser players for the same amount? The idea, though, is that one amazing player is worth whatever amount he or she charges. No, ten mediocre players are not worth one amazing player.
It's similar with CEOs. One really great CEO is worth lots more than ten or a hundred mediocre ones because he or she can do so much more to help the company. That one CEO may be worth the millions.
But I doubt it.
My middle-class subjectivity says that the inequality between me and the poor is minimal compared to the inequality between the CEO or GE and everyone else. And I want to say it just isn't right. Deep down I know, however, that it's really just a justification of my own privilege. No, I'm not really privileged, I tell myself, for look! Here's a CEO that makes 100 times what I make. And we work the same amount! Nevermind that the person making minimum wage can say the same amount me...
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