Should the President of the United States have a Swiss bank account?

So you are happy to vote for Romney this fall?

 

We talk about how rare the talents of MLB, NBA, and NFL players are. We argue about the singular voice someone like Whitney Houston has.

Well, at any given moment, there are only 500 men and women heading up Fortune 500 companies. These guys and gals are more rare than professional athletes.

And, by and larger, they either graduated from the best schools, or founded the company they lead.

Do some fail? Yes, of course. So do plenty of athletes, coaches, and actors.

Tell me one you don't think was qualified for the job. Tell me one whose qualifications aren't as far from their "average worker" as Tom Brady's are from a ticket taker.

 

Yep, all CEOs are worthy of their positions, and completely worthy of the $11,000,000 average income they decided to pay each other last year. For sure.

 

The Democratic Party: Where Failure is a Virtue

 

Politics is WWE wrestling for moedrately intelligent people. The ultra rich and in the pockets of both parties and will pay whatever it takes to maintain what they want, whether it be through lobbying or kicking in campaign contributions. If the lower classes see any benefit from these things it is purely ancillary.

 

I'll use the 2011 list:

The company that was No. 415: Gannett.

The CEO: Craig Dubow

 

And I'll add this about Dubow:

In the six years Dubow "led" the company, the stock price went down from $75 a share to as low as $2 a share. It eventually has "stabilized" around $13-15 a share.

Corporate profits went down each year. Employees were cut from 52,000 to 32,000. Shit, at one point, Dubow took off about 5 months or so for "disability" for a bad back (Rumor is he's been seen hacking away at the local country club). The company stayed in business (relatively speaking) without him.

Yet, the guy collected millions in salary and bonuses and at least $32 million in a golden parachute when he left. Even while the employees had to take furloughs and paycuts.

If Tom Brady joined a Super-Bowl winning team, and promptly led them to the second-worst record in the league while leading the league in interceptions, he wouldn't be getting bonuses for at least being better than one team, he'd be getting his ass cut. Without the rest of his salary or any roster bonuses.

 

<Crickets>

 

What about Dubow's bio tells you he was not qualified for the position?

http://communication.utexas.edu/students/craig-dubow

Do you think you're as qualified, or more qualified?

How did Gannett do vs. other newspaper/media companies? What would you have done differently if you led Gannett?

 

Everyone who makes a lot of money is a big jerkyface who doesn't deserve it.

Except athletes. They're neat-O.

 

I'm sure that's true. And, some CEO's are going to suck, and be bad people -- just like star athletes or Hollywood stars.

But, the point is, he took the steps that led him to the board room.

If your goal is to be a CEO, there is a path. Sure, the jobs are limited, so not everyone will reach the top. But, if you don't take the steps, you shouldn't bitch that you haven't achieved it, and someone else has.

 

As Rick pointed out, professional athletes (and entertainers) are probably the closest thing we have to meritocracy in the overall labor market. Marvin Miller made this point relative to CEO pay during his talk at NYU last week. The corporate world's executive compensation system is deeply conflicted and broken. These guys are skimming profits that could be reinvested in their companies or distributed to stockholders.