Executive pay: A symbolic issue or a real drain on companies?

[Stinky The Clown]

I'm in the hang 'em high camp, but I really think we need to consider this.

Are CEO salaries - obscene as they are in many cases - really a drain on all but a truly bankrupt company's operations?

I'm opposed to the salaries because they add nothing and take away a person's connection to reality and the impact of their decisions.
I'm not sure ...... I dunno ...... AIG would have been in trouble if their exec compensation were even a quarter or less of what it was at the point they failed. What brought them down was bad business decisions, not exec pay.

[rucky]

1. When they raid the pension fund to pay for their bonus...

It's not just a drain, it's theft.

[DireStrike]

2. How can it possibly be argued otherwise

Like there aren't qualified people who could run these companies at 1% of the cost.

The Free Market™ at work!

[Oregone]

7. I think it is a fair question: is the drain negligible?

Yes, its a great symbolic issue that everyone could hop on board to fight against. But is it the crux of the matter? What percent of profits are diverted to these executives, and is that a dramatic factor causing these businesses to fail (or rather, is it the terrible decisions the execs are making).

[DireStrike]

9. I'd like to see numbers, but

I suspect it's not a trivial drain. At the very least, that money could definitely be better spent in the company.

[BrklynLiberal]

3. The fact that they failed indicates they did not deserve even 1/2 of what they were getting.

Perhaps their salaries should be tied to how well the companies are doing....then they might be more interested in really taking care of the company and not just their wallets.
With the "Golden Parachutes" these guys get millions even if the company is going down the toilet..

[Stinky The Clown]

13. No argument about that at all!

[kestrel91316]

4. Weird. Your OP totally changed subjects while I was posting.

[Stinky The Clown]

14. That *is* weird ..... since I didn't edit it at all.

:shrug:

[kestrel91316]

22. I realized after the fact that I clicked on the wrong post, lol.

I was responding to the post just below yours and had myself ALL confused.

[Stinky The Clown]

23. Would you care for a shot of my Geritol?

:hi:

[lumberjack_jeff]

5. A few million here, a few million there. Soon it adds up to real money. n/t

[TheCowsCameHome]

6. It's the sheer arrogance that pisses me off.

Strutting around like all is well, meanwhile their company is on the skids.

Perception is everything.

That's why this Big Three mess looks so rotten to the taxpayer- their execs fly to DC private jets to beg for a bailout. How fucking arrogant is that?

[Stinky The Clown]

15. "...... their execs fly to DC private jets to beg for a bailout. How fucking arrogant is that?"

How arrogant?


Hahahaha


Hammer, meet nail!



:thumbsup:

[leftofthedial]

8. major drain

[Hydra]

10. It's a real drain

And it's a symptom of a MUCH bigger problem- people are starting to think of companies as ATMs.

CEOs and investors start to think of the workers as a drain on their potential profits, rather than seeing that without workers there wouldn't BE any profit for them.

It's not symbolic in any form that these people make more in a year than we will in our ENTIRE lives. It has to stop...and investor profits needs to be taxed like income when they pull it from a company.

[Redstone]

11. Yes, it IS that big of a problem. Because, listen to me because nobody else is saying this,

the problem is NOT the ratio of the executive's pay to the overall operating expenses of a given company, nor in comparison to their sales or revenues.

The REAL problem is that when people get paid that kind of money, they end up having the kind of mindset that absurdly-highly-paid athletes have: It makes them believe that, because they're getting paid SO much money, that they must be Godlike, be utterly privileged, and be capable of doing NO wrong.

Trust me on this. I don't need to elaborate any further.

Redstone

[Stinky The Clown]

16. That's essentially what I said in the last paragraph of my OP

I agree completely.

[OneGrassRoot]

17. I agree, and it plays into the theme we've witnessed far too long....

and are now feeling the effects worldwide:

NO ACCOUNTABILITY.

It's obscene.

[Hannah Bell]

12. I read something a while back that did the numbers & found it was

a drain, at least for some companies. I think it was david cay johnson.

[redqueen]

18. Of course it's a real drain. (nt)

[Greyhound]

19. It was mostly symbolic back when they were making 70, 80 times average

salary (I read Japanese CEOs get something on the order of 40X), but as it has risen to almost 500X it has become a real issue.
Another consideration is that as CEO salary goes up, all other executive salaries climb proportionately as well and lacking any disincentive, executive bloat sets in.

[guitar man]

20. the fact that they get paid that much to fail

would lead me to say it's more than a drain, it's a crime. They should be horsewhipped and mad to beg forgiveness from the American public while kneeling on broken glass, just to remind them that their executive titles are not titles of royal heraldry.

I think CEOs should make minimum wage for a base salary, with the opportunity to make a crapload in bonuses IF they perform, their company performs and their employees prosper along with the stockholders. They always claim they deserve what they get because they are the big "risk takers". Oh really, let's see them takes some actual risks for a change

[ben_meyers]

21. Symbolic issue , obscene , a drain or not

It's time to legislate how much a person needs and how much they are allowed to be paid. Nobody needs the kind of compensation that some of these bloodsucking, born to the right family, silver spoon executives get.

A cabinet level position needs to be created, call it the "Department of Compensation", that will determine pay based on an individuals need and removes the incentive from the current cut throat system of competition and greed that we now have.

In a just world a nurse with 2 kids should make more than a scumbag CEO of a car company.