November 7, 2013
SEC Commissioners
Washington, DC
Dear Commissioners,
Thank you for following through on the provision of the Dodd-Frank Act that requires public companies to disclose their ratio of CEO to median-worker pay.
I urge you to stand firm against a well-funded campaign of corporate resistance to this simple disclosure rule. Industry lobbyists claim that it imposes a heavy burden on companies for no good reason. Both ends of that argument are false. The proposed rule has been crafted to simplify compliance; and investors have a strong need for such information, both in order to guard against risky bets by self-seeking executives and to evaluate a company's long-term soundness. It is widely acknowledged that runaway pay practices, linked to short-term corporate gains, encourage recklessness, excessive short- termism and unethical acts.
Three years have passed since enactment of the Dodd-Frank financial reform law. I urge you not to delay implementation of this rule any further, and to move ahead soon with the other compensation provisions of the law.
Sincerely,
Ron Bigler