Here's a quick addendum to my previous post about the k-shaped economy.
This realization was driven in large part by conversations with co-workers on the topic.
The assumptions
For a thought exercise, let's assume the changes over the decades in the executive-to-worker pay ratio simply never happened, and executives today are still pulling a salary at a similar ratio to what they got in 1940.
As a reminder, James A. Stack - the credit control executive (notably, not a CEO) for a textile importing firm - got paid $5000 per year in 1940. That's roughly 4 times the median U.S. worker's salary at the time ($1226 in 1939, according to data from Census.gov, and $1368 in 1940, according to data from archives.gov).
The median weekly salary for U.S. workers in 2025 was $1204, according to a press release from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Since I'm a U.S. worker who gets paid roughly the median salary, I can afford a calculator 🤣
My calculator tells me that works out to $62,608 per year. Funny how, in less than a century, a median worker goes from $1200 per year to $1200 per week.
Anyway, multiply that 2025 median annual salary by 4, and you get $250,432. So in our thought exercise where everybody's wages inflate in equal proportion, Mr. Stack would be earning a quarter mill per year. Nice chunk of change, but not an outrageous salary.
The crown jewel of his collection - that Class III 1804 dollar - just sold in December 2025 for a $5 million hammer price + 20% buyer's premium = a total of $6 million.
Remember also that plenty of other valuable coins were sold in the James A. Stack auction, a few of which sold for hundreds of thousands apiece. So it's not like Mr. Stack only bought one expensive coin; he built a marvelous collection of fine specimens.
The realization
If the executive-to-worker pay ratio hadn't changed over time, James A. Stack wouldn't be able to afford his own coin!!!
If that doesn't demonstrate that something is off-kilter, I don't know what does...
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