Mark Pocan: “So what you just said, talking about the buying power, putting that much money back into the economy, you know, I look…”

“So what you just said, talking about the buying power, putting that much money back into the economy, you know, I look at it this way. If you are someone who is making minimum wage and you get your wage increased to about $10.10, that extra money is not going to go into a savings account for something in the future. You are probably going to be buying things right now. You are going to buy a sofa maybe. The average CEO now makes 354 times what the average worker makes. Back in the late eighties it was about a 40-1 ratio. Now it is 354 times. When we put money into an average low-wage worker, that money goes immediately into the economy. They can buy a sofa. But when the gains that we have had in this country have gone, largely, to the top executives, the top 1 percent, the top 1 and 2 percent, how many sofas can you buy at that rate? How does that affect the economy? Do you have any idea how many sofas you think you could buy if you are a CEO to try to keep up with and help stimulate the economy?”