National CEO Day -- An Idea Whose Time Has Come

We got to chatting over at Eschaton about how the Industrial Revolution has resulted in quite a few of us working even more hours than would have been necessary back in the bad old days of the Middle Ages.

It reminded me that there's one day every year where some group announces that, on that day, the "average" American tax payer has finally worked enough days to pay her taxes and is, only then, beginning to "work for money that she gets to keep." It's a cute marketing trick, designed to stir people up about how they have to work many more days than they otherwise would work just to pay taxes. It ignores how many days they'd have to work to provide services such as a military, environmental protection, and roads for themselves, but, none the less, it's cute.

Some bright soul with a calculator ought to sit down and figure out how many days the "average" American worker has to work to pay the salaries of America's CEOs. You know, CEOs like Ken Lay who make tens upon tens of millions of dollars but then, when the shit hits the fan, swear that they were idiots who knew less about what was going on than their lowest clerk. But their boards of directors never ask for the salary back. I'd love to hear radio and tv stories on, say, May 9th, announcing that American workers have been working ever since January just to pay the salaries of the Ken Lays of the country and can, now, finally, begin working for themselves.

Most workers, I imagine, would rather get the several month vacation.