Executive Pay

I apologize to those whom I've sent this to in an email a few weeks ago, but I am reprinting it as a seque into tomorrow's post.


The New York Times a few weeks ago did a thing on Executive pay. They actually listed in several pages the pay of hundreds of companies.

There is absolutely NO relationship between pay and performance. Some companies have lost money but their CEOs get raises anyway.

The following is the 'Haul of Fame'.

Larry Ellison Oracle $706.1M 2001
Charles B. Wang Computer Associates 655.4 1999
Michael Eisner Walt Disney 575.8 1998
Sanjay Kumar Computer Associates 359.2 1999
John S. Reed Citicorp 230.7 1997
Raymond J. Lane Oracle 233.9 2000

[Keep in mind there are 45 million people without health care in the US]

Sanford I. Weill Citicorp 230.7 1997
Sanford I. Weill Citicorp 224.9 2000
Michael D. Eisner Disney 203.0 1993
Mel Kerzamin CBS 201.9 1998
Alfred Lerner MBNA 195.0 2002
L. Dennis Kozlowski Tyco (on trial) 170.4 1999

[If we were talking about lazy poor people on welfare, the GOP would have been demanding REFORM NOW. Remember, no linkage between pay and performance).]

Sanford I. Weil Citicorp 167.1 1998
Gerald M. Levin AOL/Time Warner 164.4 2000
Stephen M. Case America Online 159.2 1998
Josef Straus JDS Uniphase 150.8 2001
Howard Solomon Forest Laboratories 148.5 2001
Jeffrey S. Raikes Microsoft 145.5 2000

[But raising the minimum wage would put undue hardship on business.]

Paul A. Moritz Microsoft 145.3 1999
Richard D. Fairbank Capital One Financial 142.2 2001
Kenneth L. Lay ENRON 141.7 2000
[Chief GOP fundraiser in 2000, on trial in 2006. Claims he doesn't know high tech or finance. So how did he get the job? Thousands lost jobs and pensions. Those who lost their jobs got the standard unemployment benefit.]
[If he were pushing crack and black, he'd get 20 years first offense.]

Reuben Mark Colgate-Palmolive 141.4 2003
[Company lost money in 2003 - remember no link to pay and performance.]

Henry R. Silverman Cendant 137.5 2000
Ronald T. LeMay Sprint 128.4 2000
Stephen M. Case AOL Time Warner 128.3 2001

[2 of the last 3 companies lost money last year].


AND THEN THERE IS THE RETIREMENT PACKAGE

The following is a list of what top CEOs get in retirement EVERY YEAR for the REST OF THEIR LIVES:

Henry A. McKinnell Pfizer 6.5M
Lee R. Raymond Exxon Mobil 5.9
Edward H. Whitacre SBC Communications 5.5
[SBC Communications is Sinclair Boradcasting that refused to air the Nightline show about American War Dead, he'll also get an $8.6M lump sum payment]

William W. McGuire United Health Group 5.1
Robert L. Nardelli Home Depot 3.9
Reuben Mark Colgate Palmolive 3.7 (maybe that's why the company didn't make any money, hmmm).

Ken D. Lewis Bank of America 3.5
[Use some of that money to protect people's identities and keep track of backup tapes]

Sam J. Palmisano IBM 3.4
Jeff R. Immelt GE 2.9
James Mulva Conoco Phillips 2.7
Richard K. Davidson Union Pacific 2.7
Arthur F. Ryan Prudential 2.6
Harold M. Messmer Robert Half 2.6
[But they can't find ME a job]

Noland Archibald Black and Decker 2.6
Robert A. Eckert Mattel 2.5
[It pays handsomely for cheap Chinese labor - so THAT's where the savings go]

Patrick Stokes Anheuser-Busch 2.5
Lewis Hay FPL Group 2.4
Sidney Taurel Eli Lilly 2.3
E. Neville Isdell Coca Cola 2.3
Douglas H. McCorkindale Gannett 2.2

In addition to his salary, Robert W. Selander of Master Card will get a $10M 'incentive bonus' to stay in his job for 6 more years, on top of his 9.2M salary. Many CEOs also get other 'incentive bonuses' such as free golf club memberships and corporate jet usage.

[So they give the guy $10M to stay on the job for 6 more years - what? They can't find a decent replacement among the 8 million people who are unemployed?]

And then there are those who are down on their luck:

Carly Fiorina of HP gets FIRED - walks away with $21M.
Martha Stewart gets 'home detention' in her mansion and she compalinig about her ankle bracelet.


Meanwhile the GOP (Greedy Old Party) has submitted these items into its budget paid for with YOUR tax dollars.

$3M for the Cal Rifkin Sr. Foundatio to build a replica of Camden Yards.
$1.7M to the International Fertilizer Foundation
$100K for the Tiger Woods Foundation (Tiger Woods is a millionaire, let him contribute to his OWN foundation)

Source: MSNBC

Sources: The Corporate Library, company proxy statements; Pearl Meyyer and Partners; Business Week.

Remeber there are 8 million people unemployed and 45 million have no health care, but nobody can find any money. Where is the 'Moral Party now'. Even the recent Bankruptcy legislation was based on 'moral' issues - people who can pay their debts should be foreced to.

We hear alot about the Hollywood 'Elite' but we never hear much about the 'Corporate' Elite. They operate in the shadows and so therefore NEVER under political attack.

And all these millionairs keep getting their taxes cut by the Bush Administration. Why aren't they paying 'their fair share' for the freedoms we enjoy?

Where's the Morality? Where's the ethics? Where's the outrage?

DAMN IT.