AAA, have you noticed that the people who are disagreeing with your posts in this thread have not actually taken a moment to either read or consider them? Your posts in this thread were nuanced and considered, and they just reached for their ideological sledgehammers.
While I can't stomach the idea of congress dictating salaries for anyone at any level, we must all admit that what we have in place is clearly unsustainable. Rewarding incompetent CEO's and their immediate underlings for running companies into the ground just can not continue. Leaders that grow their business need to be rewarded...handsomely. Hatchet men that manage the bottom line through work force reduction need to be thrown out on their ass. No bonus, no golden parachutes, no stock options, just an escort to the door.
Yes. While govenment intervention in this regard makes anyone squeamish, the current practice of CEOs essentially dictating their own terms via the director buddy system is corrupt beyond words. A mechanism of some form should be in place to protect shareholders (i.e., capital). What is currently in place clearly isn't doing the job.
I agree but what are you suggesting here...that this is something only the gov can make happen or something that should happen within the company?
Corporations should be given the opportunity to clean their own house. However, as T-Dog suggests, there should be a mechanism in place to "encourage" those that refuse to do so. At the end of the day, sadly, that mechanism is the government.
The mechanism is for investors to do their due diligence and withdraw financial support for overcompensated CEO's (ie sell their shares and corporate bonds). Caveat emptor. Also, the market will eventually drive any company with grossly inefficient comp structures out of business if they are not providing commensurate value to consumers. Duh.
Except that they're almost all doing it, judging by the ratio of CEO-to-average-worker compensation today as compared to a couple of decades ago. It is widespread. These guys are going for hay rides on the backs of investors. They are screwing capital. The self-correcting mechanism you suggest has not even begun. If anything, it is asleep at the switch and the train is going faster in the wrong direction. And don't forget the viral intercorporate directorship buddy system that makes it all possible. David, meet Goliath. But be sure to leave your slingshot at the door.
Then don't invest, and don't buy the company's product. If you work there- quit. That is your freedom. It is the exec's freedom to negotiate the best deal for themselves under the contractually based corporate structure of the company. For every dollar they take out of the company there is some investor who invested, some consumer who made a purchase, and some employee who made it possible. They all made choices of their own free will to make it possible. Government intervention in this process lessens the value of the free choice made at every link in the chain. Only fascists can't see that fundamental truth. And forget the whole argument about the widening gap between rich and poor, execs and workers. I will evoke M. Thatcher to rebut that red herring. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okHGCz6xxiw
Did you perhaps mis this part: Did you miss the part about intercompany director collusion? Are you really so daft? Listen, judging by your post content, you will never be a CEO of a public company. Therefore, you will always be on the receiving end. And yet, you are defending indefensible conduct. I can understand, although not necessarily agree with, someone who promotes a selfish cause. However, YOU are promoting the continuation of YOUR getting screwed. Do you not get that?