Capitalists make the case for socialism, a continuing series

NYT reports that American CEOs are taking minimal -- or even non-existent -- paycuts during the pandemic, letting employees suffer layoffs while refusing to do any real sacrifice.

A survey of some 3,000 public companies shows that the cuts — which, so far, have come in the form of salary reductions — were tiny compared with their total pay last year. Total pay includes things like bonuses and stock awards that typically make up the bulk of what corporate bosses take home.

Companies in this group include the Walt Disney Company, Delta Air Lines, United Airlines and Marriott International. All of those businesses have laid off or furloughed employees or pressed workers to take pay cuts.

Seems obvious at this point that American capitalism is disordered. Right now the shareholders are making a killing -- as Ryan Cooper points out today, the only way to get Republicans to move on an economic relief bill right now is to root for the stock market to collapse -- and so, apparently, are the CEOs. It's the workers who are taking the hit. If capitalists want to survive, they might think about re-ordering their businesses a bit so that sacrifice is shared. Otherwise, why should workers buy in?