On Top So Long It Looks Down from Here

The line "been down so long it looks like up to me" is often associated with the world of traditional blues music.  Themes of hardship, suffering, and resilience are common, and the line offers a potential glimmer of hope.  Despite some effort, Atlas was unable to find an exact origin of this phrase.  The term did, however, become more widely known through Richard Fariña's 1966 novel, "Been Down So Long It Looks Like Up to Me," and The Doors helped its notoriety further when they released “Been Down So Long” on their L.A. Woman album.

Enduring hardships should not be claimed by CEOs of America’s largest firms, but they might be experiencing relative difficulties.  According to research in this note from the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), those at the helm of our nation’s largest 350 companies took an unusual pay dip last year.  Their average pay dropped 14.8 percent, not an insignificant amount.

Now before you pull out your harmonica and start hyperventilating through it, let’s put this into context.  According to the EPI, compensation for those overseeing these publicly traded companies has soared 1,209.2 percent since 1978 after adjusting for inflation.  Over the same stretch, the typical worker’s pay is up 15.3 percent.  This puts the CEO-to-worker compensation ratio at 344-to-1 in 2022.  For some perspective, the ratio was 21-to-1 in 1965.

These CEOs have been living well for a long time.  Us mere mortals couldn’t fathom the comforts and lifestyle afforded by such generous pay.  Flying so high for so long may have altered their perspectives such that their declining compensation in might look like down from there.  Although their private jets are still flying high, so maybe not.