Show —T Steamed about salary inequities? Outraged that someone makes 1000 times more than you do? Heitfs a way to think about it that may help: philbin made Regis asking whether— when they ‘ftris" is the cap-- of France —that's final answer I like Regis Regis is smart and chinning and funny But so are you and you didn’t make S35 million last year And that’s just the half of it because the figures for Regis and the other celebrities in this issue arc' only what they earned in pay Ounces arc they earned millions more in investment income on prior years' earnings You earned $38 from a savings account But before you let this turn you bitter remember that for starters we get to live vicariously through some of these people This is America! We don’t have kings and queens but we do have Howard Stem earning S30 million (in his case for being anything but charming) arid Arnold Palmer earning $18 million mostly in unfettered supply and demand that has made these top guys so incredibly valuable (And how come it's almost entirely guys2) But according to Fortune — which no one can accuse of being an : T' 4 magazine — that's not what's on at all Fortune titled its June going 2001 cover story “Inside the Great CEO PayHerst" Executive compensation lias become highway robbery” it reported “We all know that Why can’t we stop it?The answers lie in die perverse interaction of CEOs boards and consultants” In short it’s less about ffee-marforces than about a privileged few at the top looking out for each other And that’s not fair But as angry as some of this might ss ket regb phum $35 million IV pmarafe Ml Hrt cm a tag wv I ariy a tn tohT nlaSiiSravaSHi1111 Ufa “ $55 - oHmlna end CEOs but " when the CEOs ! listed here arid do you know why?The margins of this magazine are not wide enough to fit the number! Of course Oprah is doing more than hitting a rock spiration to tens of millions of people Why shouldn ’r she get the equivalent of a few bucks a year from each of them? Where one can be forgiven for losing one’s sense of humor about all this in my view is in surveying 11181(6 you remember that PA-T- O myaumilB RADE is only showing what herein the US our celebrities P61668" Life is unfair—and we lucked million HR BANKS becfu“ht'1 a good at hitting a ML Da ani aetata fepmaM tatta jan (I watch four guys play beach atatatarlartartaataratatapawu"ari --each week entirely with their heads feet and chests never using with a stick She has given valu their hands-rwhi- ch has to be at least as able information advice land in difficult and important to the cQm: monweal as making a tough chip shot— and I'll bet they don’t get paid a dime) But who among us really begrudges Regis or Arnold or even Howard all that loot? You do? Well OK— you're entitled For me though I say more power to them—and hope'they arc very very generous with their good fortune Then there's Oprah She’s noteyen yi turn out to be a privileged citizcns °f where Uganda earn librarians Plurabers “d a whole lot less When they can find work at all Yes life is unfair But for most of us' it could be a lot worse And in America there’s at least a fighting chance that if cou out- - or Peru wfaldmger $22 million few looking out nnnV at ityou—cr your kids 6tyiitallMllttapiBaB fOr OMh OUlOTi ft?1 anyway— can dose the gapll the executive suite There in some cases the pay is earned unfairly Don’t get me wrong I'm all for the free market Ifthe only way to attract the best CEO for thejob is to design a $30 mil- lion pay package so be it But some- thing telB me that you could find really thafe not fair people willing to work for less CEOs of large US corporations earned 42 times as much as the average worker in 1980—bra 531 times as much-i- n 2000 Which is fine (I guess) if it’s pure AndrewTobias PARADE’S sonal Finance Edikr is theauthoref "The Only bwestmera Guide Ybu’ll Ever Need" U — HIMIt What YOU tt mob a macH a toot Mnux Jj |