Disparity in Salaries

4/23/2017

Parade Magazine had it's annual "What People Earn Report" this week.  And boy do the salaries ebb and flow.  We have the "winners" whose salaries are counted in the millions.  Are they worth what they earn?  On some level, I don't think so.  

Dwayne Johnson was the highest paid actor in 2016 with a whopping $64 million (est.) in pay.  I've never been an actor and never will be.  Melissa McCarthy gets $33 million (est).  Do they not list their actual wages, because they either don't want people to know; and, or embarrassed by their wealth.  I'm opting for the first one.  We, little people, already stagger at those salaries, so I suppose if we knew what they really made, we'd swoon to the floor.  There is also Manny the French bull dog, and his estimated earning is $100,000, but all of that is donated to charity.

And, then there are the normal folks.  Some of these people earn so little, I don't know they survive.  Based on their low salaries, I can only assume that they love what they do.  A mountain safety host earns a little over a thousand dollars a year.  A day laborer is just over ten thousand.  You and I both know that this man works very hard for his money.  

Elvis Presley's heirs earned $27 million last year, and he's been dead for years.  Clearly the King is still popular.  A Disneyland Resort parking and transportation cast member earns $9,200.  A hand model gets a mere $10 thousand.  

I do applaud actresses: Robin Wright and Emmy Rossum who stood their ground and demanded that they should earn as much as their male counterparts.  I believe that's only fair.  Women have notoriously earned less then men, even though they sometimes do the same jobs.  

I'm no longer in the job arena.  Now, any social security income increase, has to be approved by those in authority in Washington.  Luckily, I worked for 40 plus years, so while my earnings won't set the world on fire, it's better than a lot of other people.  I see people on let's say Judge Judy and they tell her that they get a monthly income from Social Security as low as $500.00.  Obviously, with such a low income, I'm sure it must be difficult to make ends meet. 

Most workers, who aren't in let's say management positions, receive their yearly salary increases but the percentage of that increase is very low.  And, as a worker, you can either accept what you are given, or else you are free to walk and find a new job.  I don't know about you, but when I was working, I would have rather walked over hot coals than to try and find a new job.  Jeff and I came from an era when people got a job and stayed with that job.  Young people today, move jobs frequently, getting them bigger salaries every time.  Folks my age were and are loyal to the company they worked for.

P