Asked What They'd Tell a CEO, Nearly a Quarter of Americans Said the Same Thing: Stop Being Greedy

Americans were asked an open-ended question — name the one thing you would want corporate leaders to understand about economic life in the United States right now — and the answers came back blunt.

A quarter of respondents said the cost of living is too high and that companies should make their products more affordable. Another 23% said executives should share their wealth, earn less and "stop being greedy." The findings come from a survey by the opinion research firm Echelon Insights and the global advisory firm Brunswick Group, based on a June poll of 1,001 registered voters.

Affordability was the top concern overall, cited by 41% of respondents, with 23% naming the cost of living specifically. That result lines up with a broad set of other data pointing the same direction heading into the midterm elections this fall.

The gap the respondents are describing is measurable. In 2025, the average compensation package for chief executives of S&P 500 companies was $17.7 million, up 6% from the prior year, according to the Associated Press. As of early 2026, the typical full-time American worker earned $64,220 a year, up 3.4%, according to Fidelity Investments citing federal labor data. Put differently, the average S&P 500 chief executive made roughly 275 times what the typical full-time worker did, and the gap widened rather than narrowed over the year.

Neither party is getting credit for addressing it. A separate CBS News poll found that just 24% of voters think congressional Republicans are helping with cost-of-living concerns, and 36% say the same of congressional Democrats. Those are both minority numbers in an election year in which affordability is the dominant issue.

Household data tells the same story from the other end. In a study by the financial services firm Primerica, 71% of Americans said their income is not keeping pace with the cost of living. Food costs are up more than 20% since 2022 according to CBS News' price tracker, which means a grocery run that cost $100 four years ago runs about $120 now.

"The challenge today is that many families feel they are doing everything right but still struggle to get ahead as rising costs continue to outpace their progress," Primerica chief executive Glenn Williams said in a statement.

For corporate leaders, the polling lands at an awkward moment. Executives have spent much of the past two years explaining margin expansion to investors while consumers traded down to store brands and smaller pack sizes. The Echelon and Brunswick results suggest the public has drawn its own conclusion about who captured the difference — and that the answer is showing up in political polling well before it shows up on any ballot.