> the CEO or shareholders didn't invent the computer either, and buying a PC is a fairly small expense, so why should they be the ones to benefit from the increased productivity?
Because the company owns the computer, and the work done by it. The employee is paid to do that work, and the CEO is paid to do their work. The company (and the market) decides what they are willing to pay the CEO, the worker, and the share holders, and each of those parties agrees to it. These are not slaves, none of these people are forced into these agreements against their will.
> Because they hold power and the regular employee doesn't. I think that's the only real explanation for this discrepancy: CEOs and shareholders have power, while the regular employee doesn't, and that power imbalance means more money goes to the CEO and shareholders.
Or because they are worth less in the market than the CEO is. What those parties have is "leverage" and "marketability" and "ownership", not some evil "power" construct. Ownership is available to general employees in a co-op, and people are free to join them, or start their own companies. If they choose not to, that's their choice.
The issue is not that CEOs make more money than regular workers. Of course they do. But CEO salaries and bonuses have exploded, while regular worker salaries have stagnated.
If that's not enough to tell you something wrong, then consider that even failing CEOs, CEOs of companies going bankrupt or in other kinds of trouble, still get multi-million dollar bonuses.
It really is power. You can call that power "leverage" or "ownership", but it's still power that regular workers don't have.
Because the company owns the computer, and the work done by it. The employee is paid to do that work, and the CEO is paid to do their work. The company (and the market) decides what they are willing to pay the CEO, the worker, and the share holders, and each of those parties agrees to it. These are not slaves, none of these people are forced into these agreements against their will.
> Because they hold power and the regular employee doesn't. I think that's the only real explanation for this discrepancy: CEOs and shareholders have power, while the regular employee doesn't, and that power imbalance means more money goes to the CEO and shareholders.
Or because they are worth less in the market than the CEO is. What those parties have is "leverage" and "marketability" and "ownership", not some evil "power" construct. Ownership is available to general employees in a co-op, and people are free to join them, or start their own companies. If they choose not to, that's their choice.