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What's an Army private worth? In Sunday's New York Times:

Private [Diego Fernando] Rincon, whose family moved to the United States from Colombia when he was 5, mailed a letter to his mother at the end of February. His unit was preparing to roll off in its Bradley fighting vehicles, he told her, and he might not be able to write soon. He told his mother he loved her. He also told her of his fears, the jarring flashes he had of what might come next.

What came next was that he died on March 29, 2003. He was nineteen years old. For his first full year of service he would have earned what every private earns, a little over $15,000.

Elsewhere in the Times we notice a special report on executive compensation. There we learn that Edward D. Breen, the new CEO of disgraced Tyco International, was very well compensated in 2002 — to the tune of $65,034,965. (Ironically enough, Tyco is suing its former officers for "looting" the company.)

What's a CEO worth? That's easy — Tyco CEO Edward D. Breen is worth 4,335 Private Rincons.

It takes over four thousand American war casualties to match the dollar value of a single CEO.

Welcome to George W. Bush's America.

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