The Reward Of The Boss

The news that a clutch of overpaid executives earn over 180 times the average pay of everybody else comes as no surprise but it still deeply shocking. One of the reasons our economy is so out of balance and our society is so unequal is that many rules and principles are being bent or broken. One of these is the foundation principle of capitalism; with high reward comes high risk and failure is a key ingredient of nurturing renewal.

It therefore follows that if you earn massively more than the people below you, it is because you shoulder risks which they do not. By this we mean that should the enterprise fail you lose your all including you home and your shirt, because you risked all to found or buy the business which you own. But if you are just an employee and you shoulder no personal risk (other than losing your job and share options) there should be an absolute limit on what you can be paid. Twenty times average would seem fair.

If you want more you must become an aspirational entrepreneur then, if you succeed, having taken the risk, you get the reward. That is what capitalism is. It is not what we have now. This is greed, exploitation and selfishness. Time is up.