As we have noted, the federal minimum wage is $7.25/hour.

According toThe NY Times, Merrill Lynch CEO John Thain brought home $83,785,021 in 2007, the year before his company collapsed and needed to be rescued by the US government through an arranged acquisition.

According to CNN/Money, Blackstone's Stephen Schwarzman(who recently compared the failed efforts to allow his tax cuts to expire as scheduled to the nazis invading Poland)was the highest-paid CEO in 2008, taking home $702,440,573 in salary and stock options

According to a recentTimesarticle, investment manager John Paulson received about $5,000,000,000 in compensation in 2010.

a. assuming each worked 3000 hours in the years noted (60 hours/week for 50 weeks), how much did Thain, Schwarzman, andPaulsoneach make per hour?

b. assuming a minimum wage worker works 2000 hours per year, how long did Thain, Schwarzman, andPaulsoneach have to work to earn what a minimum wage worker currently earns per year?(The minimum wage was lower in prior years, but don't worry about that.)

c. with the same assumptions as in b., each of those executives earn as much per year as how many minimum wage workers?