Leading off, Josh Bivens at the Economic Policy Institute explains the graph above:
In 1978, compensation of CEOs was 35 times greater than compensation of average workers. Since then, this ratio has skyrocketed, peaking at 299-to-1 in 2000. During the Great Recession, CEO pay fell relative to pay of typical workers because much of CEO compensation is directly linked to the stock market, which fell sharply in 2008 and 2009. However, the ratio bounced back during the recovery and stood at 243-to-1 in 2010.
- Wouldn't it be nice if Republicans were the only politicians doing the bidding of corporations, and Democrats were consistently on the side of workers? But this is how it really is: Kay Hagan (D-NC) introduced a Senate bill to take overtime pay eligibility from many IT workers, and Michael Bennet (D-CO) is a co-sponsor.
- A dozen Verizon workers are marching from Albany to Zuccotti Park, arriving for a November 17 rally for the 99 percent.
- The cost of Thanksgiving dinner is 13 percent higher this year than last year, and Gawker's Lauri Apple has some suggestions for how to deal with that:
Spread the expense. Have your guests bring individual components of the meal. Assign the turkey to your poorest guest and assign the "one-pound relish tray of carrots and celery" to your wealthiest guest in an homage to America's income gap. Seat the Poorest and the Wealthiest next to each other at the dinner table and see if class differences affect their interactions.
- The National Labor Relations Board issued a complaint against Jimmy John's for firing workers who protested the sandwich restaurant's lack of paid sick leave.
- Check below the fold for stories you may have missed at Daily Kos Labor.
- Michigan is trying to save money by using low-wage contract workers at a state-run veterans home, but due to a lawsuit there's an injunction against it at the moment.
- The Census Bureau came up with a new supplemental poverty measure. It raises the poverty threshold, yet counts more poor people than the official measure.
- Thanks to the wonders of long-term unemployment, fewer than half of unemployed people are receiving unemployment benefits.
- Twenty-five senators voted for an earmark-laden infrastructure bill in 2005 but voted to filibuster an earmark-free infrastructure bill last week.
- Election day had a lot of wins that didn't attract too much attention but were worth knowing about, including the recall of homophobic, union-busting state Rep. Paul Scott and the win for integration in Wake County, North Carolina schools.
- The relationship between Occupy Wall Street and unions continues to develop in interesting ways.
- Sen. Lindsey Graham called National Labor Relations Board acting general counsel Lafe Solomon to threaten him before he filed a complaint against Boeing.
- A poll finds that baby boomers can't afford to retire and plan to keep working past retirement age.