Fighting back in the war on the middle class

Title: Fighting back in the war on the middle class
Source: CNN
Date: October 18, 2006

From the article:

It's been a tough decade for the American middle class, which has been experiencing stagnant wages in the face of rapidly increasing costs for health care and prescription drugs, soaring energy prices and escalating tuition costs. But worst of all, the middle class is up against a Congress that is driven by powerful corporations and dominant special interests.

Average Wall Street paycheck nears $300,000

Title: Average Wall Street paycheck nears $300,000
Source: Reuters
Date: October 17, 2006

From the article:

Wall Street workers took home nearly $300,000 on average last year as profits from trading and merger advising fueled record earnings, New York State Comptroller Alan Hevesi said.

Wall Street compensation averaged $289,664 per person, 5.1 times the average $56,634 for workers citywide, the comptroller said in a study released Tuesday. The highest-paid bankers and traders can command eight-figure pay packages.

McGuire to Cash Big Severance Check

Title: McGuire to Cash Big Severance Check
Source: AP
Date: October 16, 2006

From the article:

UnitedHealth Group Inc. will pay its departing chief $5.1 million a year for the rest of his life and a $6.5 million lump sum...

Why? because "company-sponsored investigation determined that many of the company's stock options were backdated to make them more favorable for the recipients, including McGuire, other executives, and thousands of UnitedHealth employees."

So, you do something wrong, you get paid for life.

Super-Luxury Homes Hit Market for $100M

Title: Super-Luxury Homes Hit Market for $100M
Source: AP
Date: September 30, 2006

From the article:

The listings represent a monetary milestone in American real estate: the first time U.S. homes have broken into a whopping nine figures, according to real estate experts, and they've done so in quick succession. A May survey of the nation's most expensive homes by Forbes.com put Trump's home at the most expensive and the first to break the $100 million mark.