Bailout
A recent news article I read showed the yearly income of nine CEOs of major corporations like Merrill Lynch, Wachovia, Washington Mutual and so on. It also gives the current salary of Warren Buffett, the richest man in the world.
Warren Buffett has a 6-figure salary, which is nothing to cry over. He has done enormous amounts of good running his company. He is a smart investor and has made sure the first thing he worries about during his tenure as CEO is to protect the shareholders’ investments. At latest count each share of Berkshire Hathaway A is worth around $130,000. I figure he must be doing something right. I believe his 6-figure income is fitting compensation for his work. Notice I said “fitting”, not “meager”. Call me stingy if you will.
Now, let’s take a look at the top five names mentioned in the article and their salaries.
John A. Thain, Merrill Lynch: $83,785,021
Richard S. Fuld Jr., Lehman Brothers Holdings: $22,030,534
G. Kennedy Thompson, Wachovia: $15,653,559
Kerry K. Killinger, Washington Mutual: $14,364,883
Gary M. Rodkin, ConAgra: $13,452,747
The lowest income in the quintet is still an 8-figure salary. Gary Rodkin’s income is 7687% of Warren Buffett’s salary ($175,000). Is Gary Rodkin doing 7687% of the work Warren Buffett is putting in towards protecting the shareholders’ investments? Is John Thain putting in 47,877% more?
Now, I know Buffett is pushing 80 years old, but if you are anything like me, you’d be saying, “Absolutely not, Ike! Even an outrageously old guy like him can’t be doing 47,877% less!”, and believe me when I say I agree with you! So answer me this:
Why are we letting people like this get away with multi-millions whilst running their companies head first into the ground?1 Why are we giving these people more money when they have not proven themselves the least bit responsible?
But maybe I have everything wrong. Perhaps these gentlemen are doing something productive. Maybe they are stockpiling money and will later fly all over the country emptying the bulging bags over cities much the same way Santa does. Admittedly, Santa gives away presents, not money, and he also goes down the chimney to deliver them himself, but I think we can agree he is a bit on the overzealous side when it comes to customer service.
It’s time to stand up for once. I don’t care if you are a Democrat or Republican, Green or Independent. We absolutely need to stimulate the economy somehow, but giving these CEOs money to spend should prove the epitome of bad decisions.2 What reasons do we have to trust them with $700 billion of taxpayer money? How much faith should we have?
1 I am not referring to Buffett here, he deserves a cookie.
2 Again, this excludes Buffett. See: Cookie
(3 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)
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