Thank heavens for the Tea-baggers. If not for them, who would protect the country's wealth and power disparities? Not to mention its level of denial.

The FOX News channel and the well funded folks at FreedomWorks would have you believe that the country's wealthiest 5 percent are a beleaguered vulnerable minority.

The truth is, however, while wages and benefits have been going down for most Americans, more U.S. Chief Executives (CEOs) got pay raises than had their pay cut in 2008, according to an AFL-CIO survey released this week.

The survey found that the median CEO salary rose 7 percent in 2008. CEO perks jumped an average 13 percent. What was different from most years was that in 2008 CEOs weren't just making more, they were making more while laying their workers off.

Citigroup's CEO Vikram Pandit made $38 million in 2008 even as his company received $45 billion in taxpayer handouts and laid off 74,000 workers.

Viagra, a subsidiary of Pfizer, slashed 14,600 employees nationwide while its CEO, Jeffrey Kindler, was awarded a cool $13.8 million pay package.

American Express cut 7,000 jobs. The company’s share price has plummeted and, yet, CEO Kenneth Chenault received $28 million.

The list goes on. Playboy is closing its Fifth Avenue office, ending 100 New York jobs but Hugh Hefner added an extra $400,000 to his $1 million salary. Martha Stewart Living slashed 115 jobs - and put a quota on how many pens her staff use. But her salary more than doubled and she pulled down $5.4 million last year - including a $100,000 "non-accountable" expense allowance and $100,000 for "household expenses."

2008 was a rough year for many of us - unemployment skyrocketed, millions of homes were foreclosed upon, businesses around the nation shuttered. But for that beleaguered wealthy minority -- the CEOs? Not so much.