It was reported just the other day that John Paulson earned $5 Billion in 2010. Since the earnings are all based on capital gains his tax rate is 15%. You may remember him as the the hedge fund manager who predicted the collapse of the economy in 2007 and bet on the collapse of US house prices. That 2007 deal netted him a mere $1 Billion.
The new CEO of Hewlett-Packard Company, Leo Apotheker, signed a contract that provides him with a $1.2 Million salary, a $4 Million cash signing bonus, and $4.6 Million in relocation costs and reimbursement for non-compete payments for his former employer, German business software maker SAP AG. That’s according to a regulatory filing by the company. His pay also includes a payday that will come from restricted stock worth nearly $38 million. That is a total of $47.8 Million on just the first year. The value of Apotheker’s contract could go as high as $100 million over a three year period.
It was reported just last week that Walt Disney Co. has awarded CEO Bob Iger a 2010 pay package valued at $28 Million, up 30 percent from a year ago, according to an Associated Press analysis of data disclosed in a regulatory filing on Friday. That includes $11.8 Million in stock options that when sold will be subject to that capital gains tax of 15%.
So while the average American household income in 2009 was $49,777 (reported by the U.S. Census Bureau) there are millionaires who live life styles the rest of us cannot begin to imagine.
Never mind the rioting in the streets of Cairo, Egypt perhaps it’s time to riot in the streets of America.
Coast Contact 
It won’t happen in the US unless those in power are stupid enough to allow mass stravation. They may be greedy enough to allow this to happen.
Thanks for the input. With millions of people now unemployed for more than six months and millions of others working part time to put food on the table riots may become common place.
Just a few weeks ago the mayor of NYC commented about the possibility of riots. That came well after my observations. Bloomberg, like FDR, understands the possibility is there.