Also, keep in mind, a CEO might earn 2 million a year, but if he rakes in 50 million a year for the company it's a worthy investment.
No CEO has ever done that alone.
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True, but no non-CEO has ever done that, period.
Though each made great contributions, none of those are alone in those contributions.
On the existence question, would any of those companies exist without the folks in the trenches?
Of course they haven't done that alone, but the things they contributed, no one else could. Those companies could exist without those specific folks in the trenches, because there are plenty of other folks ready to fill those trenches. The trench folks are common, widely available, and although contribute, don't contribute much. So they get paid for that level. Those companies would not exist at all without those CEOs, because CEOs are not very common, and the bad ones can drive a company out of existence way faster than bad employees in the trenches. So the good CEOs get paid a different amount for their level.
It seems your argument boils down to "both, CEOs and low-level workers, are doing similar kind of work, so should get similar pay," which is just not true.