Katie Talks Economics!

Some money-related bits in the news lately that have caught my eye...

New regulation would force companies to disclose CEO-worker pay ratio: Think it's horribly unfair for a CEO to make 127 times what an average worker does? A new rule under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act would force companies to release information about that sort of thing. A lot of company owners aren't a big fan of this idea - they say it's too hard to calculate, and besides, it's picking on them for making lots of money. To which I say: Damn straight it's picking on you. You have made this mess, and if you won't clean it up yourself, we will publicly shame you into being less greedy.

Kevin Drum says we can't do things that would fix the economy for younger people because of older people. Any big investment in economic stimulus or job creating programs would threaten retirement funds or require a raise of taxes, which younger voters are usually more ok with (being not at retirement age and taxed in lower income brackets) and older voters are so not ok with (for the opposite reasons). This article paints a very rosy picture of older Americans jealously guarding their benefits while my generation lives in unemployed misery while being reviled as lazy mooches. I do like to think things aren't so bad as that, but damn, what a grim way of looking at it. (The comments dissolve into some awful fighting too, which makes me wonder if that's why reporters don't often talk in terms like this.)