Happy Fat Cat Wednesday! No, unfortunately this isn’t a special day to celebrate the chubbier felines out there, instead its meaning is much more distasteful.
Today has been dubbed Fat Cat Wednesday because new figures have shown that top bosses have already made more money than the typical worker will earn all year.
OK, prepare yourself for the depressing facts. The High Pay Centre has said that executives will pass the average salary of £28,200 by midday. Yikes.
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The median pay for a chief executive in a FTSE 100 company was almost £4 million in 2015, or £1,000 an hour, compared to the national living wage of £7.20, said the report. The figure makes the “generous assumption” that top bosses work 12 hours a day, most weekends and take fewer than 10 days holiday a year.
This means that the High Pay Centre estimated it would take around 28 hours of work to pass the UK average wage.
And as you can imagine, people are pretty angry about Fat Cat Wednesday, seeing it as a stark indicator of the inequality that is rife in Britain. Or inequali-kitty if you will pardon the pun.
Angry today. Fat Cat Wednesday. Already this year, Fat Cat Directors will have earned as much as an average UK worker will earn this year.
— Phil Carter (@PhilCar27465205) January 4, 2017
Have just discovered why today is called 'Fat Cat Wednesday.' Not a great January motivator!
— Claire Dares (@ClaireDares26) January 4, 2017
The shame of Fat Cat Wednesday. Are top executives worth their salaries?
— Dr Leon Creaney (@AthleticsDrLeon) January 4, 2017
Its fat cat wednesday. Bosses of major companies paid millions. Workers paid the minimum wage. Shame on the bosses!
— Kevin Brandstatter (@redkevinb) January 4, 2017
But there are a lot of people out there just plain disappointed that Fat Cat Wednesday doesn’t mean what they’d hoped it would.
That feeling when you click on Fat Cat Wednesday and sadly realise that it's not what you hoped for pic.twitter.com/NAdBjXTmSm
— Kat Brown (@katbrown) January 4, 2017
Saw Fat Cat Wednesday trending and thought it was a day to appreciate all the fat little furballs but apparently I'm so wrong…
— Shannon?? (@its_craziey) January 4, 2017
When you turn up for Fat Cat Wednesday but find only businessmen and disappointment pic.twitter.com/Ngm38S8Q72
— Rachael H Funnell (@The_RHF) January 4, 2017
Disappointed "Fat Cat Wednesday" isn't more about this :( pic.twitter.com/pSRGTuu3Xq
— Sara Stewart (@twowitwowoo) January 4, 2017
Despite the widespread outrage over the day, there are some who don’t see any problem.
Oh FFS why is Fat Cat Wednesday even a thing? Just so the petty & jealous can moan? As long as the government taxes them on it i don't care
— gus whitewater (@gus571983) January 4, 2017
Don't get upset about fat cat Wednesday, get even. Strive to better yourself & earn more. Envy gets you nowhere #fatcatwednesday
— Ahmed J Trump (@AhmedUmbongo) January 4, 2017
That may be so, but excuse us while we scroll through more pictures of comically large kitties to avoid having to face up with the reality of the day.
