On 4 Jan 2006 08:24:53 -0800, "kurgan"
wrote:


F. George McDuffee wrote:

For complete details see
Bogel, John C., "The Battle for the Soul of Capitalism" Yale
University Press, New Haven ISBN 0-300-10990-3 25$US at local
book stores, also from Amazon at a discount.

In response to your specific question (from page 17 in the
hardcover edition) for the S&P 500 corporations:
1980 CEO pay 42X the average [not median] worker's pay in their
organization
2000 CEO pay 531X the average worker's pay in their organization
2004 CEO pay 280X the average worker's pay in their organization



The people who shouldn't put up with this is the shareholders.

The thing that makes the free market work is that work flows to the
most efficient producer. In the case of executive pay, the
cronyism/corruption that has resulted in those gross imbalances is not
a case of the free market at work. Those guys are all padding each
others' bank accounts, sitting on the board of one corporation and
voting for higher wages for their buddies while their buddies do the
same for them in the next one.

There needs to be some sort of regulation over board entanglements like
that. Not likely to happen, not in the age of Cheney-ism.


thanks,

K. Gringioni.
=========================
You are correct but this is the core of the problem. Under U.S.
and the state laws in which the corporations are incorporated the
shareholders have minimal rights. This has been reinforced by
what were sold to the gullible (like me -- so soon old -- so late
smart -- sigh ) as devices for protection against hostile
takeovers or green mail such as the "poison pill."

Even the mutual and retirement funds that own huge blocks of the
stock can't get executive salaries limited or other changes made
to prevent certain bankruptcy. The mutual funds aren't really
mutual but are owned by corporations [except Vanguard] with
boards of directors who know the people that set on other boards
..... The pension funds are either under control of the
corporation or are a corporation with boards of directors.
Governmental pension funds are controlled by appointees who were
appointed by the politicians who run for office with funds
collected from people on the boards of directors. anyone see a
pattern here?

This is the old old problem of the goose and the golden eggs. If
"management would have been content with 250X of their average
employees wages things could have gone on for a long time, but
they wanted the money up front and in doing so they are killing
the golden goose. In fairness it may be a situation that they
can see a massive probem ahead and are simply getting out with as
much as they can as soon as they can. Remember also that for
every CEO at 300X, there are several vicepresidents at 250X, a
comptroler or CFO at 225X, etc. etc.

Even if things don't go to doo-doo because of corporate financial
implosions, a almost surely fatal problem in the long run has
been created and exacerbated in that the policy makers and
functionaries are becoming an isolated social/economic class with
no internalization [gut feel] of the needs/wishes of the bulk of
the population. Historically this is a sure recipe for disaster
for everyone.

To get a change will take a huge disaster at which point it will
be too late.

Uncle George