http://www.aflcio.org/cor poratewatch/paywatch/p ay/index.

cfm Executive Excess 2005

Defense Contractors Get More Bucks for the Bang
12th Annual CEO Compensation Survey Sarah Anderson and John Cavanagh, Institute for Policy Studies Scott Klinger and Liz Stanton, United for a Fair Economy

Research Assistance: Hilda Gutierrez, Aaron Littman, William Noseworthy August 30, 2005

Key Findings

1. Ratio of CEO pay to average production worker pay leapt up to 431 to 1 in 2004:
The ratio of CEO pay to average worker pay increased from 301-to-1 in 2003 to 431-to-1 in 2004. By contrast, in 1990, the average large company CEO made just 107 times the pay of the average

production worker http://www.thebulletin.org/minutes-tomidnight/timeline.html - atomic clock

Dimensions of the divide

The digital divide is not a clear single gap that divides a society into two groups. Researchers report that disadvantages can take such forms as lower-performance computers, lower-quality or high-priced connections (i.e. narrowband or dialup connections), difficulty in obtaining of the Internet and technological advances in developing economies. Many people can get low cost access in local Internet Cafes, but the evidence still suggest that people are much more likely to make regular use of an Internet connection at home than anywhere else.[1] Today the discussion is moving from the technologies themselves to skills and literacy. Training people in computer skills entails teaching them to read and write first and then how to search and use information effectively but regular practice and the access to practice will still be a limiting factor. Another key dimension of the Digital Divide is the global digital divide, reflecting existing economic divisions in the world. This global digital divide widens the gap in economic divisions around the world. Countries with a wide availability of internet access can advance the economics of that country on a local and global scale. In today's society, jobs and education are directly related to the internet. In countries where the internet and other technologies are not accessible, education is suffering, and uneducated people cannot compete in our global economy. This leads to poor countries suffering greater economic downfall and richer countries advancing their education and economy. The digital divide is a term used to refer to the gap between people

who have access to the internet (The information haves) and those that do not (The information have nots). It can also refer to the skills people have the divide between people who are at ease using technology to access and analyse information and those who are not. There are a variety of arguments about why closing the digital divide is important. The major arguments are as follows: 1. Economic equality: Some think that access to the Internet is a basic component of civil life that some developed countries aim to guarantee for their citizens. Telephone service is often considered important for the reasons of security. Health, criminal, and other types of emergencies may indeed be handled better if the person in trouble has access to a telephone. Also important seems to be the fact that much vital information for education, career, civic life, safety, etc. is increasingly provided via the Internet, especially on the web. Even social welfare services are sometimes administered and offered electronically. 2. Social mobility: If computers and computer networks play an increasingly important role in continued learning and career advancement, then education should integrate technology in a meaningful way to better prepare students. Without such offerings, the existing digital divide disfavors children of lower socio-economic status, particularly in light of research showing that schools serving these students in the USA usually utilize technology for remediation and skills drilling due to poor performance on standardized tests rather than for more imaginative and educationally demanding applications. 3. Social equality: As education integrate technology, Societies such as in the developing world should also integrate technology to improve the girl-child life. This will reduce the gender inequalities. Access to information through internet and other communication tools will improve her life chances and enable her to compete globally with her Contemporaries even in the comfort of her rural settings. 4. Democracy: Use of the Internet has implications for democracy. This varies from simple abilities to search and access government information to more ambitious visions of increased public participation in elections and decision making processes. Direct participation (Athenian

democracy) is sometimes referred to in this context as a model. Economic growth: The development of information infrastructure and active use of it is inextricably linked to economic growth. Information technologies in general tend to be associated with productivity improvements even though this can be debatable in some circumstances. The exploitation of the latest technologies is widely believed to be a source of competitive advantage and the technology industries themselves provide economic benefits to the usually highly educated populations that support them. The broad goal of developing the information economy involves some form of policies addressing the digital divide in many countries with an increasingly greater portion of the domestic labor force working in information industries. http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Digital%20divide The Free dictionary by Farley

The Development Divide in a Digital Age

Author(s): Cynthia Hewitt de Alcntara Programme Area: Technology, Business and Society (2000 - 2005) Paper No.: 4 Code: PP-TBS-4 Project Title: Information Technologies and Social Development No. of Pages: 48

This paper considers the role that information and communications technologies (ICTs) can realistically be expected to play in improving the level of living and quality of life of people in different parts of the world. It focuses above all on low-income countries, where most development assistance efforts are concentrated and where the challenge of utilizing ICTs effectively is greatest. The title of the paper reflects its central argument. The digital divide is an integral part of a much broader and more intractable development divide. The likelihood that people in low-income countries can improve their life chances is often sharply limited not only by their lack of access to modern means of communication and sources of information, but also by a complex network of constraints ranging from unresolved problems of poverty and injustice in their own societies to the structure and dynamics of the global economic system.When designing ICT

programmes in developing countries, these broader constraints must be explicitly taken into account. Thus, at the international level, discussion of possibilities to use the Internet for improving trade and employment opportunities in low-income countries must be accompanied by a frank evaluation of impediments associated with the current global financial and trade regime. If the surrounding context for proposed innovation is not sufficiently analysed, and remedies for pressing economic problems addressed, many well-meaning efforts will have short lives and minimal results. Lack of attention to the macroeconomic environment (and to deficiencies in basic physical infrastructure and public sector capacity) frequently leads to over-optimism concerning the development potential of e-commerce and telework in the majority of Third World countries. Inattention to these factors can also lessen possibilities for success in other areas. Even the most apparently local initiativelike the provision of access to the Internet in a Third World school or clinicis likely to fail if that countrys debt burden makes it virtually impossible for the government to maintain adequate programmes of public education and health. Similarly, it is unlikely that the potential of ICTs to improve public administration will be realized when cash-strapped local governments cannot improve incentives within an underpaid and thoroughly demoralized civil service.

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