November 22, 2013
Dear Securities and Exchange Commission:
I am an investor in publicly traded companies through my retirement plan and personal savings, and with shares in publicly traded companies directly. CEO and executive income has become totally outlandish, and the only way to rein it in is to make it, along with the CEO/Executive to average worker a matter of public record. When a large retailer like JC Penney, with it's dismal performance, pays it's CEO over 7,900 times more than it's average worker, something is deeply wrong. When a Jamie Dimon can take and execute hideous decisions like WaMu and Country Wide, and pay BILLIONS in fines out of my money, as a shareholder, and make hundreds if not thousands of times more than a teller in one of his bank branches, who has NEVER made a bad decision that cost the bank money (and who would be fired if s/he did), the system no longer works. Time to fix this problem with transparency and accountability.
I strongly support the SEC’s proposal requiring companies to disclose the CEO-to-median worker pay ratio, as required by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.
Pay ratio disclosure will help investors evaluate CEO pay levels when voting on executive compensation matters. The ratio of the CEO-to-worker pay is a valuable metric for investors, because it places CEO pay levels into a broader perspective.
For example, investors may use pay ratios as a factor when casting say-on-pay votes. Pay ratio disclosure also will help investors better understand their company’s overall compensation for all employees.
High CEO-to-worker pay ratios can have a negative impact on employee morale and productivity. Disclosure of the pay ratios will help the capital markets better allocate capital to those companies that invest in their workforces.
Sincerely,
D A Alexander
rawlins, WY