Shrinking Incomes and Pay Raises

Just in case you were taking all of this economic stuff personally:

From the New York Times: "The overall income Americans reported to the government shrank for two consecutive years after the Internet stock market bubble burst in 2000, the first time that has effectively happened since the modern tax system was introduced during World War II, newly disclosed information from the Internal Revenue Service shows."

But, of course, not everyone is suffering:

From the International Herald Tribune: "The median pay for a chief executive officer in the United States rose 15 percent in 2003 and was up 22 percent among top executives at larger companies, according to a survey released Wednesday." "Despite some calls for restraint in pay, it was a better year for the executives than 2002, when the median total compensation rose 9.5 percent."