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California’s CEOs, on average, got paid 275 times more than the average worker in 2007. Compared to the rest of the country the income gap in California widened more than anywhere else between 1978 and 2007, and the picture has not improved since. A report released just yesterday, conducted by a coalition of California labor and community advocates working under the name Meet California’s 1%, exposes the richest Californians. Further, the report claims that this state’s richest one percent are also slowing down the type of economic recovery that would benefit the 99%.

The wealthy CEOs profiled include the chief executive officer of Hewlett-Packard and 2009 candidate for governor, Meg Whitman, and CEO of Wells Fargo, John Stumpf, as well as University of California Board of Regents member Richard Blum. All three, Whitman, Stumpf and Blum, like their counterparts, rake in yearly salaries in the multi-millions. California’s richest one percent donates millions of dollars a year to the California Chamber of Commerce, statewide campaigns, and industry associations to protect their corporate interests. They back an agenda that ensures that the majority of political power stays in the hands of a select few by continuously fighting legislation that would ultimately benefit the majority of Californians, resulting in more expensive higher education, depressed wages, fewer jobs and more housing foreclosures within the state.

The report, Meet California’s 1%, advocates the necessity of examining the role that the 1 percent plays within the state’s political system. It also proposes leveling the playing field to benefit the 99% of Californians by raising taxes on the super rich, closing corporate tax loopholes and resetting mortgages to fair market values to stabilize housing and create jobs.

GUEST: Peggy Mears, organizer with the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment

Visit www.thecalonepercent.com to download the report.