greed is good ... still

In 1999 a first-year, full-time sales consultant at Qantas earned $30,500 a year. The Qantas chief executive of the day, James Strong, earned $1.9 million. In 2006 a Qantas employee in the same position earned $38,000. But the Qantas chief executive of the day, Geoff Dixon, earned $5.3 million. The workers salary had gone up by about 25% over seven years. The chief executive's salary had gone up by 175%. And that doesn't include share based payments and bonuses. This pattern repeats itself across the whole economy.

The Australian Financial Review's annual executive salaries survey [11/06] shows the average salary for chief executives in the top Australian companies has risen to $2.1 million, reflecting increases of 12%, 16% and 29% over the last three years. At the same time average annual earnings have risen to $57,000, up 3%, 6% and 4% over the three years.

This reminds me of the movie Wall Street, when Bud Fox asks Gordon Gekko: "How much is enough? How many boats can you water ski behind?" To which Gekko replies: "It's not a question of enough, pal. It's a zero sum game, somebody wins, somebody loses. Money itself isn't lost or made, it's simply transferred from one perception to another."