Back in 2003, Hightower did the math on CEO pay and came up with an average of $7,452 an hour. That number was supposed to be shocking. Read it now and it barely registers, because we’ve spent two decades getting used to worse.
In the June 2003 Hightower Lowdown issue below, the mechanics he lays out (the rigged boards, the SERPs, the “long-term compensation” nobody can define) are still exactly how it works. Swap in Tom Siebel’s name for whichever tech CEO is currently cutting his salary to a dollar for the headlines while cashing out stock options in the back room, and you’ve got this year’s story instead of 2003’s.
For the numbers: the average S&P 500 CEO pulled in $22.98 million in 2024, a 285-to-1 pay ratio against the typical worker. Work that out hourly and it’s about $11,000. Adjust the 2003 figure for inflation and it’s not actually that different in real terms. What’s different is that nobody in the business press calls it “cartoonish greed” on a magazine cover anymore. The media just got quiet about it— but we don’t have to. The AFL-CIO’s Executive Paywatch is on the case, as is IPS’s Inequality.org. Check them out!
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