Let us have a discussion about what is “political”!

Below is a short piece about inequality in the United States, and how the Oregon government is going to tax companies with “extreme CEO-worker pay gaps”. To the furious CEOs and committed libertarian capitalists I’m sure this is purely (party) political, to be overturned at the earliest opportunity. Other people believe that extreme inequality is disastrously bad for the country and is not likely to end up happily. History tells us that societies that are not cohesive and are regarded as unfair break apart and violence eventually ensues. To me this is a social problem and system break-down that heralds political turmoil, is very much in the purview of Epicurean commentators. Aside from it being immoderate, social upheaval is bad for pleasure and peace of mind. If you disagree please explain.

“A year ago the Portland, Oregon local government voted to slap a surtax on corporations that pay their chief executive officers more than 100 times what they pay their typical workers. This is the first tax penalty on corporations with extreme CEO-worker pay gaps in America, and may not be the last.
“Much like the Fight for $15, this bold reform could well spread like wildfire. Indeed, we may look back at the Oregon vote as the dawn of a new “pay ratio politics.” The key driver of the Portland tax: city council member Steve Novick, who has pressed on doggedly to win passage of this landmark reform.
“The Portland surtax will rely on new federal pay ratio data. Thanks to a Securities and Exchange Commission regulation announced last year, publicly held corporations will this year have to start calculating the ratio between their CEO and median worker pay. The first of these ratios will go public about now.
“These federally mandated pay ratio disclosures will make it easy for states and cities to adopt Portland-style surtaxes — if they have the political will to do so. In Portland, local officials had that will, and their deliberations showed just how broad the potential political support may be for leveraging the public purse against corporate pay practices that increase inequality.
For Novick, the tax is all about sparking a national movement against inequality. “CEO pay is not just an eye-catching example of, but a major cause of, extreme economic inequality,” he notes. “Extreme economic inequality is — next to global warming — the biggest problem we have in our state”. (Onequality.org)