It's not luck, son.  Everybody has opportunities in life.  If you're too lazy, busy gang-banging, doing drugs, or looking for your next hand out to notice them, that's your problem and not society's problem.  I saw mine and took full advantage of them.  That's smart, not luck. 

I started at a grocery store as a bagger at 18 (had been working since 14).  In a year I was running the receiving dept and in another year I was store manager (with the former manager reporting to me).  There's no luck in that.  I hated the guy that owned the store, but he taught me a very important lesson in life: work smarter, not harder.  I'm pretty damn lazy, yet ironically at work I have the reputation as the person they can give anything to and it will get done.  It's not because I work harder than everyone else; it's because I know how to get things done efficiently and not waste time on things that don't matter.  It's the same reason I can post here all day while keeping my job...they don't care how hard I work; just that my work gets done and it does.  That's not luck. 

I don't know everything, but I know what I know.  It's not quite I drink and I know things; I just know things.  I have always absorbed information quickly since I was a child.  It's not luck that I know things.  I pay attention to what is going on around me.  I learn from what is going on around me.  People come to me for advice because they know they can tell me anything and it will not be repeated.  It's amazing what you can learn by listening and paying attention to the world around you.  You don't have to work harder than everybody else; but you better be pretty sharp if you're not going to be a hard worker.

There are ways to get it done, but you can't sit around and make excuses for why your life sucks or come here and complain about the rest of the world being dumb for not agreeing with you when you're part of the problem and not any of the solution.  SLC is sadly everything he complains about others being, and can't see it at all.

Why does it matter what the CEO is making?  Do you understand free enterprise and supply and demand?  People get paid what the job is worth.  If you're extra good at it, you might get a little more.  If you're fantastic, it's more likely you'll get promoted and with that will come more money. 

I don't get why people think the CEO's job is easy.  It's not.  Few are qualified to do the job.  The number of hours worked, the amount of travel, the amount of stress, responsibility, etc...no amount of money would be worth it for me.  Maybe I'm unique, but I'd guess not if people actually knew what they were signing up for. 

Corporate America is just a game.  All you have to do is understand that and the game is pretty easy.  They use you; you use them right back.  They can fire you at any time, but you can also leave at any time if you're good because your skills will be in demand.  I have roughly 18 years of experience doing what I do and 10 of those years are at Fortune 500 companies (including 7 years at a Fortune 100 company).  Do you think I'm worried about not finding a job if they were to get rid of me tomorrow?  Heck no.  I am skilled and in demand based on the calls and emails I receive every day about job openings.  While I am there, the experience I am gaining is making me more valuable.  The contacts I am making are making me more valuable.  The cross-training I am getting is making me more valuable.  I love where I work and hopefully I can retire here, but if not I've certainly gotten the most out of my time here not just in terms of skills and experience, but also financially.  I've been able to do things and go places I could never have imagined being able to do when I was younger. 

So why do I care what the CEO is making?  Why should I care if my peers are making more or less than I am?  All that matters is that I am happy with what I am doing and how I am being compensated.  I could be the lowest paid employee in the department and I wouldn't care.  Maybe I am.

No, not unless you have some actual statistics to back it up.  If you have skills, there are all kinds of jobs out there for you.  There is a lot of competition for top talent by the top companies.  The company I work for is hoarding cash like crazy, but I don't know any of the 40,000+ employees that aren't happy with how they are being taken care of.  Even our front-line employees are doing pretty well for themselves (and the company subsidizes their healthcare at a higher percentage than for the professional level employees).  There's no way we're the only company doing it.  If companies aren't going to take care of their top talent, they are going to lose it.  I see it happen every day. 

Now if you're talking about unskilled people like fast food or most retail, that may be the case.  If you're talking about companies that are just interested in getting by and making cash, you might be right.  Smaller companies probably right.  But there's no way I am comfortable making a blanket statement like you did knowing what it's like in the fortune 100 (and probably much of the fortune 500) world, and those are the companies that have major amounts of cash.

Are you an idiot or a troll?

Just when I thought a thread couldn't be more idiotic than the politics one, this thread came along...