Rich CEO: Stop Lattes, Afford Homes (Just Not Rich CEOs)
While some corporate titan advises us to penny-pinch on coffee, let's look at where the real money is flowing. The average CEO-to-worker pay ratio hit 344-to-1 in 2022, according to the Economic Policy Institute. Meanwhile, the median home price in the U.S. jumped 43% in just four years, from $329,000 in Q1 2020 to $473,000 in Q1 2024 (Federal Reserve data). A barista making minimum wage would
need about 100 years of skipping Starbucks to save for a down payment. Perhaps instead of lecturing young people on their spending habits, this CEO—who likely flies private and owns multiple properties—could consider how corporate greed and speculative real estate have fundamentally broken the economic ladder. One might wonder if they’ve ever skipped a private jet for a bus ticket to afford
anything.