The New York state legislature is considering a bill to raise the state's minimum wage to $8.50 an hour. The current minimum wage in New York is $7.25 per hour, which, at a standard 2000 hours per year, works out to a pre-tax income of $14,500.

In the mood for some class rage? (Of course you are.) Gothamist points us to message board on uptight parenting forum UrbanBaby asking, "What's your hhi [household income] and do you FEEL poor, middle class, upper middle class or rich where you live. No judging."

The writing, so to speak, was on the wall, and now, it seems, what we all feared most shall, in fact, come to pass: our brothers and sisters on Wall Street—from the 18th floor to the 80th floor, from the fixed income desk to the investment banking division, from Goldman Sachs to Lehman... no, Lehman is dead... to…

Our brothers and sisters on Wall Street stand in solidarity with you, Rest of America: they're going to take a huge pay cut this year. Huge! Probably bigger than your entire measly little salary. From Dealbook:

Thanks to a deft culling of the herd, there are only two Real Housewives of New York left to terrorize the Big Apple and they're being rewarded with a healthy raise. It seems like they're actually going to make some real money now.

Forbes has released its annual list of the highest-paid actresses on television with Tina Fey at the top, with a whopping $13 million last year. And that's cool! We're happy with that. Some of the rest of the list, though, not so much.

You know that actors, reality show hosts, and network news anchors make tons of cash, right? But just how much do they make? And who makes more than their fellow stars on shows? And why is Ashton Kutcher the highest paid actor on TV? Let's find out.

Confused about the future of our economy? It's all very simple, really:

The White House released its annual salary report last week, and as usual, it's nice to work for Barack Obama: Most staffers who were there for more than a year got a salary bump. A bigger one than you did.

The good news: the chief financial officers at America's 500 largest companies saw their pay increase by nearly 20% last year, to an average of almost $3 million. That's a recovery we can all get behind. Here's to you, gents.

Cleaning up after college kids is lucrative. A profile in The Daily Beast reveals that Kia Grasty, cheerful custodian of Penn frat houses, makes $140,000 by mopping beer from rich kids' floors.

We've long known that the gap in wealth and earnings between the haves and the have-nots has the potential to undermine the very foundation of American society. We're referring, of course, exclusively to attorneys. The young bottom-of-the-food-chain document reviewers toiling for a meager pittance can scarcely behold…

As predicted, total Wall Street pay in 2010 rose to its highest level in history: $135 billion. Income as a percentage of revenue was up, as was average compensation per employee. They couldn't have done it without you, America. [WSJ]

Wall Street's work has ground to a halt. Employees are huddled around fiery trash barrels, discussing their much-diminished bonus pools. CEOs are ordering lowly executives to keep their money woes quiet. It's worse than we thought: they're getting nothing.

Are you looking forward to experiencing strong feelings of rage, or possibly schadenfreude, as you learn how much money Wall Street bankers made this bonus season? Sorry; Morgan Stanley's CEO will keep it all quiet, using nothing but frightening threats.

Looking to get rich quick? Become a college president! According to a new Chronicle of Higher Education survey, 30 college presidents made $1,000,000 or more in 2008, more than ever before. How hard can it be, really?

Google has given all of its employees $1,000 cash "holiday bonuses" and 2011 salary increases of at least 10%, a loyal reader tells us.

Has Wall Street not suffered enough? Don't answer that. The point is, more and more studies are coming to the conclusion that Wall Street pay will be up this year. How can we say this, euphemistically?

The big recession officially ended in June of 2009. In practice, the only people for whom it ended work on Wall Street. Last year, Wall Street pay was a record high. This year? Even higher.

Not as much as Roseanne won in the lottery, but still a lot. Also today: House's sexy doctor lady gets a new movie role, as does sexy Kevin James, while Robert Redford's latest movie gets a deal.