Austin Scott: “This is an issue that speaks to the issue of confidence in the American enterprise system. There is no more greater…”

“This is an issue that speaks to the issue of confidence in the American enterprise system. There is no more greater issue that we need to deal with, and I think what the major point that we need to emphasize here is that there is a problem, and obviously there is a terrific problem. There is a terrific problem on several layers. Let me start with the first layer. First of all, we have a problem where we have a stretch of the differences between what the average worker is making in the American economy and this huge leap by multibillions of dollars by what CEOs are making. This is not an aberration. This is a fact in case after case. Plus, on top of that, none of these performances for these huge CEO packages are done based upon performance. As a matter of fact, some of the most outrageous demonstrations of this have been corporate CEO packages that have rewarded companies with hundreds of millions of dollars in their packages for a lack of performance, even while their company has been going down, even while their company has been laying off people, even as they have turned their backs on their pension obligations to employees. No, this is not an aberration, and there is a hue and a cry from the American people across the American landscape that is saying something must be done.”