President biden is looking to give a Fresh boost to the economy with his new Jobs and families plans president biden Wants to add funding to schools Businesses Infrastructure and social services Combined both Efforts would cost trillions of dollars In order to pay for this president biden Has proposed a plan to raise taxes On the country's top income earners and Corporations Cbs news took a closer look at that plan Joining me now is money watch reporter Stephen gandel stephen welcome Great to have you with us so you have Some Reporting specifically on how ceos Fared financially during the pandemic as So many americans faced financial Fallout Talk to us about the ceo paychecks and Why They often personally did not take a hit Like many of their profit margins did Yes ceo paychecks generally went up last Year even in Industries like cruise lines and hotels And restaurants That were hurt the worst by the the Coronavirus pandemic And the reason is is that the the what We've what i found in my reporting Was that the the watchdogs the corporate
Boards that are supposed to decide what These ceos get paid and what's Get paid and what's fair they didn't Really do their job last year That they made excuses we found the Instance Of yum brands saying that well it was Unfair for their ceo's paycheck to go Down just because of the pandemic Well there was a lot that was unfair About the pandemic that's what critics Told us And and the workers didn't cause the Pandemic either and yet many of them Lost their jobs So that's one part of it another part is That there's a long-term trend and there Has been To tie ceo pay to the stock price and Companies often pay their ceos A little bit of cash and a lot of stock And generally that's supposed to work When a company does well it's stock Price goes up But then you have weird years like last Year where the stock market went up But the economy took a big hit from uh The corona buyers pandemic And so you had this disconnect and you Had the same disconnect with pay That we saw that uh companies didn't Perform very well But their ceo paychecks went up Okay and then let's talk for a minute
About real estate because that's another Very interesting you know subject Housing prices are the highest they've Been in 15 Years what is behind that is this more Than just Urban flight linked to covid and what Does that Mean for the economy it's good i guess For the sellers but it's hard for young People trying to get in on that You know their first home right yes Yes uh and that's been a problem for um For the housing market the the first Time buyers but what generally what Higher housing prices follow the economy They follow jobs that's generally why Housing prices go up And so with uh the stimulus bill from Washington with the fact that the Economy Is is is going to reopen very soon It's it's not surprising that housing Prices would go up and People selling right now are Anticipating more and more demand and so They're going to ask More on the margins it the The movement helps right it's not just People moving out of urban areas But it just in general when people move It creates uh More demand for housing and and more More uh
Pressures in the market to push up Prices lower interest rates have helped To So that's all part of it but yeah it Generally is a sign that most people Think the economy at least in the next Year it's going to be pretty good And the markets are rallying as well Slowly as the country slowly begins Reopening Uh but inflation is also a little bit on The rise do you expect Inflation to keep rising and if so why Well inflation is a it's a weird thing To To measure right you get a lot of Anecdotal stuff about gas prices or food And i do think when the economy reopens There's going to be a lot of things that People want to buy that they haven't Been able to spend money on in a long Time And they're going to want to quickly buy It like so i think there's going to be a Lack of demand of Airline tickets and there's going to be A lack of demand of rental cars and And maybe some hotels and and gas right People are going to want to drive in the Way they have in a while So i do think we should we will see Prices go up In the next say six months but this is Really a surprise supply problem
It'll erase itself pretty quickly the Thing that drives Long-term inflation is wages uh And if you talk to most people unless You know most of your friends or ceos If you talk to most people and you ask Them about their paycheck it's generally Not You know going up dramatically and so Until we see that until we see sustained Increases in wages i don't think we're Going to see much inflation Well so stephen what are economists Saying then you know we just talked About how ceo paychecks keep going up And up and up But it's you know everyone else's are Not keeping pace so So when you hear that what does that Tell you About the president's plan to tax a Little bit of that because we know there Aren't that many ceos in In the us and they seem to be doing Pretty well uh you know the president Says it's fewer than half of one percent Of americans that are going to get this Tax increase on their capital gains Uh you know so when we hear that the Wealth disparity keeps growing Doesn't that seem to make a little bit More sense You know to tax that tiny tiny upper Echelon a little bit more
Uh yes i mean i think the Tax increases are generally pretty Popular uh And i think this is probably a piece of You know it's It's not great news for the way that Companies set their Incentive structures but it's probably Good political news for the biden team I think that that news like this um Which got a lot of play recently and and We'll get more as more of our companies Announce this News like that uh helps the political Drive To raise
