1. United States
2. Minn.
3. Letter

CEOs shouldn’t make millions while ordinary workers struggle to get by. But the gap between CEO pay and median-employee pay just keeps growing. A new report from Inequality.org, Executive Excess 2025, found that the median Starbucks employee made $14,674 last year. And the CEO was paid $95.8 million. That's a 6,666-to-1 ratio -- but many other companies are doing the same, as executive compensation continues growing unchecked. Over the last five years, the U.S. inflation rate was 23%. Workers’ pay at the worst 100 major companies increased somewhat, but lagged behind inflation, at just 16%. Meanwhile, CEO pay went up 35%. Between 2019 and 2024 these firms spent a combined $644 billion on stock buybacks. Every dollar spent on buybacks represents a dollar not spent on workers. The tradeoffs can be downright staggering. At Lowe’s, for instance, every one of their 273,000 employees could’ve gotten an annual $28,456 bonus over the past six years with the money the retailer blew on stock buybacks. Lowe’s median worker pay in 2024: $30,606. I'm not the only one who is demanding change: One 2024 poll found that 80 percent of likely voters favor a tax hike on corporations that pay their CEOs more than 50 times more than what they pay their median employees. Large majorities in every political group gave the idea the thumbs up, including 89 percent of Democrats, 77 percent of Independents, and 71 percent of Republicans. Thanks for your attention to this matter.