11–20 of 42 posts
This is a good example of why CEO pay is wrong. In any normal job, if your salary gets "slashed", you quit your job. Doesn't this undermine the argument that CEOs need outrageous salaries to be incentivized to work, if you slash their salary, and they keep working?
Taking a hit to your bonus because you messed up big time is perfectly standard.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Most CEOs are dramatically overpaid.
Overpaid relative to what? Your estimation of perceived value? What do you define as value? How would you even begin to empirically establish what you're saying? Executive compensation is a construct of market consensus, not an absolute based on individual performance. The tangible value contributed by chief executive staff is one component of the compensation package, and what is valuable to the board or shareholder…
What is it going to take to make statements like "bosses are making too much money compared to their workers" popular again, so that people can actually mobilize and enact legislation to protect their own interests as a class?
Reminds me of this little short:
---
http://www.newyorker.com/humor/daily-shouts/l-p-d-libertaria...
I was shooting heroin and reading “The Fountainhead” in the front seat of my privately owned police cruiser when a call came in. I put a quarter in the radio to activate it. It was the chief.
“Bad news, detective. We got a situation.”
“What? Is the mayor trying to ban trans fats again?”
“Worse. Somebody just stole four hundred and forty-seven million dollars’ worth of bitcoins.”
The heroin needle practically fell out of my arm. “What kind of monster would do something like that? Bitcoins are the ultimate currency: virtual, anonymous, stateless. They represent true economic freedom, not subject to arbitrary manipulation by any government. Do we have any leads?”
“Not yet. But mark my words: we’re going to figure out who did this and we’re going to take them down … provided someone pays us a fair market rate to do so.”
“Easy, chief,” I said. “Any rate the market offers is, by definition, fair.”
He laughed. “That’s why you’re the best I got, Lisowski. Now you get out there and find those bitcoins.”
“Don’t worry,” I said. “I’m on it.”
I put a quarter in the siren. Ten minutes later, I was on the scene. It was a normal office building, strangled on all sides by public sidewalks. I hopped over them and went inside.
“Home Depot™ Presents the Police!®” I said, flashing my badge and my gun and a small picture of Ron Paul. “Nobody move unless you want to!” They didn’t.
“Now, which one of you punks is going to pay me to investigate this crime?” No one spoke up.
“Come on,” I said. “Don’t you all understand that the protection of private property is the foundation of all personal liberty?”
It didn’t seem like they did.
“Seriously, guys. Without a strong economic motivator, I’m just going to stand here and not solve this case. Cash is fine, but I prefer being paid in gold bullion or autographed Penn Jillette posters.”
Nothing. These people were stonewalling me. It almost seemed like they didn’t care that a fortune in computer money invented to buy drugs was missing.
I figured I could wait them out. I lit several cigarettes indoors. A pregnant lady coughed, and I told her that secondhand smoke is a myth. Just then, a man in glasses made a break for it.
“Subway™ Eat Fresh and Freeze, Scumbag!®” I yelled.
Too late. He was already out the front door. I went after him.
“Stop right there!” I yelled as I ran. He was faster than me because I always try to avoid stepping on public sidewalks. Our country needs a private-sidewalk voucher system, but, thanks to the incestuous interplay between our corrupt federal government and the public-sidewalk lobby, it will never happen.
I was losing him. “Listen, I’ll pay you to stop!” I yelled. “What would you consider an appropriate price point for stopping? I’ll offer you a thirteenth of an ounce of gold and a gently worn ‘Bob Barr ‘08’ extra-large long-sleeved men’s T-shirt!”
He turned. In his hand was a revolver that the Constitution said he had every right to own. He fired at me and missed. I pulled my own gun, put a quarter in it, and fired back. The bullet lodged in a U.S.P.S. mailbox less than a foot from his head. I shot the mailbox again, on purpose.
“All right, all right!” the man yelled, throwing down his weapon. “I give up, cop! I confess: I took the bitcoins.”
“Why’d you do it?” I asked, as I slapped a pair of Oikos™ Greek Yogurt Presents Handcuffs® on the guy.
“Because I was afraid.”
“Afraid?”
“Afraid of an economic future free from the pernicious meddling of central bankers,” he said. “I’m a central banker.”
I wanted to coldcock the guy. Years ago, a central banker killed my partner. Instead, I shook my head.
“Let this be a message to all your central-banker friends out on the street,” I said. “No matter how many bitcoins you steal, you’ll never take away the dream of an open society based on the principles of personal and economic freedom.”
He nodded, because he knew I was right. Then he swiped his credit card to pay me for arresting him.
This is a good example of why CEO pay is wrong. In any normal job, if your salary gets "slashed", you quit your job. Doesn't this undermine the argument that CEOs need outrageous salaries to be incentivized to work, if you slash their salary, and they keep working?
They didn't touch his salary. It was his bonus (what they euphemistically describe as his "variable compensation award") that took the hit. Taking a hit to your bonus because you messed up big time is perfectly standard.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
They didn't touch his salary. It was his bonus (what they euphemistically describe as his "variable compensation award") that took the hit. Taking a hit to your bonus because you messed up big time is perfectly standard.
"Absolutely standard" for whom? What percentage of the workforce even has one, excluding $50 gift cards and other such token gestures?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Overpaid relative to what? Your estimation of perceived value? What do you define as value? How would you even begin to empirically establish what you're saying? Executive compensation is a construct of market consensus, not an absolute based on individual performance. The tangible value contributed by chief executive staff is one component of the compensation package, and what is valuable to the board or shareholder…
I'm honestly baffled every time a free market zealous believer goes around saying "nothing is unfair! the market, by definition , makes everything fair!" What is it going to take to make statements like "bosses are making too much money compared to their workers" popular again, so that people can actually mobilize and enact legislation to protect their own interests as a class? Reminds me of this little short: --- ht…
I do not doubt that there are CEOs that are overpaid, as do I not doubt that there are those that get paid fair. Chants and overly ideological short stories aren't going to fix the problem with the former.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm honestly baffled every time a free market zealous believer goes around saying "nothing is unfair! the market, by definition , makes everything fair!" What is it going to take to make statements like "bosses are making too much money compared to their workers" popular again, so that people can actually mobilize and enact legislation to protect their own interests as a class? Reminds me of this little short: --- ht…
They didn't say that though. They just proposed that the blanket statement is baseless. As the parent states, I could as arbitrarily state that CEO's are underpaid. They also provide further explanation on what might dictate CEO pay, factors that some people might not consider when making such blanket statements. You on the other hand provide nothing constructive to the discussion. I do not doubt that there are CEOs…
CEO's are ovepaid. It's a fact. People are increasingly comfortable just saying this. A socialist sympathizer just made a decent bid for the presidency of the USA.
This is a good example of why CEO pay is wrong. In any normal job, if your salary gets "slashed", you quit your job. Doesn't this undermine the argument that CEOs need outrageous salaries to be incentivized to work, if you slash their salary, and they keep working?
Do you see how this is an exact analogy for your "argument" (which is a logical error.)
We are talking about a punitive fine, for doing something wrong.
If you don't agree with my microeconomic analysis please make a graph (the supply curve) with your claim.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
They didn't touch his salary. It was his bonus (what they euphemistically describe as his "variable compensation award") that took the hit. Taking a hit to your bonus because you messed up big time is perfectly standard.
"Absolutely standard" for whom? What percentage of the workforce even has one, excluding $50 gift cards and other such token gestures?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
They didn't touch his salary. It was his bonus (what they euphemistically describe as his "variable compensation award") that took the hit. Taking a hit to your bonus because you messed up big time is perfectly standard.
"Absolutely standard" for whom? What percentage of the workforce even has one, excluding $50 gift cards and other such token gestures?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
"CEO pay is wrong" What does this mean? Paying CEOs is wrong? The pay that all CEOs get is wrong? The pay that some CEOs get is wrong?
This might be a reasonable complaint if that sentence were completely divorced from context.