Here'$ Johnny

Inflation is a cruel thing. Gucci is now charging $110 for a pair of loafers, and you can't get a hamburger at "21" for less than $10. A Rolls-Royce? Don't ask. So what's a fella gonna do at Christmas time but ask Santa for a raise? Which brings us to Johnny Carson, who has been put-putting along on only $1.5 million a year. Last week jolly old NBC raised its No. 1 star a cool $1 million, to $2.5 million per.

To sweeten the deal even further, NBC also reduced Carson's work load. Johnny, a pioneer of the four-day week, now does his late-night talk show 38 weeks a year. In the future, said NBC, he will have to work only three days a week for 25 weeks and four days for 13 weeks. If you want to divide that with the calculator you got for Christmas, you will come up with Johnny's hourly salary--$13,123. There's more than one way to beat inflation, eh, Arthur Burns?

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.