Re: Business CEO Responsibilities Question
pjc & DU, I'll respond in some detail later, when I get some time. (may be a couple of weeks).<br /><br />I will say now that I wasn't refering to all CEOs and that I'm sure there are many who work their a**es off, operate with integrety, and provide enough value to justify every cent of the compensation package they receive. If I offended any CEOs on this board who fit that description, my appologies; my thoughts weren't meant to be directed at all CEOs.<br /><br />I still think we've experienced a problem with CEO compensation in enough businesses (including some very large ones) to present a valid concern. It's not related to capitalism; I strongly agree that people can earn whatever someone will pay them. Rather it's related to a flaw in the internal corporate governence system that seems to have developed (worsened?) over the past 15 or 20 years. <br /><br />If you're interested, I'll provide more detail about my thoughts and some references when I get some time.<br /><br />Like I said, this is an issue I noticed years ago. Haven't stayed current with it, and based on some of the things I've looked at this morning, the problem seems to be being addressed in some areas.<br /><br />pjc: how in the world did you manage to slip the 'Liberal/ Conservative' issue into this? To me, it's purely a business issue. <br /><br />DJ: like I said, I agree that anyone should be allowed to make whatever they can get someone to pay them for their honest labor (although it's probably understood, we better put in the disclaimer that that doesn't include fraud or scams).<br /><br />That's why it's curious that you mention the amount athletes make. Same as other entertainers (actors, musicians, etc), the market dictates how much they are worth. I personally think it's too much to pay $150 or more for tickets to a football or basketball game. By not going, I'm indirectly demonstrating with my wallet that I think athletes are overpaid. But there are enough people out there who will pay huge amounts for tickets. One could argue that entertainers (including athletes) are some of the most fairly compensated workers in a truely capitalistic society since the value they produce (in $'s) is much more easily measurable than the value produced by individuals in many other professions. My reference had to do with when the system in baseball got out of whack awhile back due to the ineptitude of owners who couldn't control spending amongst themselves. They started paying athletes more than they were worth (according to the value they provided the enterprise) and thereby threatened the viability of the team's/ league's future unless there was a correction made to the system. The correction that baseball made was to institute a salary cap; another could have been to let teams go bankrupt, but as a country we value sports too much to risk losing the 'home team'. Will explain more later about how that relates to my thughts about some of the problems with executive compensaton at some corportatons (and to preclude the issue, no, I don't think caps for CEOs is the answer).
pjc & DU, I'll respond in some detail later, when I get some time. (may be a couple of weeks).<br /><br />I will say now that I wasn't refering to all CEOs and that I'm sure there are many who work their a**es off, operate with integrety, and provide enough value to justify every cent of the compensation package they receive. If I offended any CEOs on this board who fit that description, my appologies; my thoughts weren't meant to be directed at all CEOs.<br /><br />I still think we've experienced a problem with CEO compensation in enough businesses (including some very large ones) to present a valid concern. It's not related to capitalism; I strongly agree that people can earn whatever someone will pay them. Rather it's related to a flaw in the internal corporate governence system that seems to have developed (worsened?) over the past 15 or 20 years. <br /><br />If you're interested, I'll provide more detail about my thoughts and some references when I get some time.<br /><br />Like I said, this is an issue I noticed years ago. Haven't stayed current with it, and based on some of the things I've looked at this morning, the problem seems to be being addressed in some areas.<br /><br />pjc: how in the world did you manage to slip the 'Liberal/ Conservative' issue into this? To me, it's purely a business issue. <br /><br />DJ: like I said, I agree that anyone should be allowed to make whatever they can get someone to pay them for their honest labor (although it's probably understood, we better put in the disclaimer that that doesn't include fraud or scams).<br /><br />That's why it's curious that you mention the amount athletes make. Same as other entertainers (actors, musicians, etc), the market dictates how much they are worth. I personally think it's too much to pay $150 or more for tickets to a football or basketball game. By not going, I'm indirectly demonstrating with my wallet that I think athletes are overpaid. But there are enough people out there who will pay huge amounts for tickets. One could argue that entertainers (including athletes) are some of the most fairly compensated workers in a truely capitalistic society since the value they produce (in $'s) is much more easily measurable than the value produced by individuals in many other professions. My reference had to do with when the system in baseball got out of whack awhile back due to the ineptitude of owners who couldn't control spending amongst themselves. They started paying athletes more than they were worth (according to the value they provided the enterprise) and thereby threatened the viability of the team's/ league's future unless there was a correction made to the system. The correction that baseball made was to institute a salary cap; another could have been to let teams go bankrupt, but as a country we value sports too much to risk losing the 'home team'. Will explain more later about how that relates to my thughts about some of the problems with executive compensaton at some corportatons (and to preclude the issue, no, I don't think caps for CEOs is the answer).
