| Topic: |
Politics > Politics-USA |
| User: |
"Harry Hope" |
| Date: |
01 Sep 2003 11:13:57 AM |
| Object: |
CEOs rewarded for cutting workers |
From The Madison Capital Times, 9/1/03:
http://www.madison.com/captimes/opinion/column/zweifel/55882.php
By Dave Zweifel
Here's a sobering report on this, the day we honor working American
men and women.
The Institute for Policy Studies and United for a Fair Economy have
concluded that chief executives of companies that had the largest
layoffs and most underfunded pensions and that moved operations
offshore to avoid U.S. taxes were rewarded with the biggest pay hikes
in 2002.
That's the result of the way executive incentive pay is constructed in
the United States these days - the more you mess with workers and the
more you avoid paying taxes, the more money you get.
According to the institute's study, the median pay increase for CEOs
in 2002 was a relatively meager 6 percent.
But that median pay rocketed to 44 percent for the CEOs of the 50
companies with the biggest layoffs in 2001 - companies like
Hewlett-Packard, which laid off 26,000 workers, and AOL Time Warner,
which jettisoned 4,380.
At the 30 companies with the biggest shortfalls in their employees'
pension plans during 2002, the chief executives made 59 percent more
than the CEO median across the nation.
And at the 24 companies with the most offshore subsidiaries in
countries that levy few, if any, taxes, CEOs earned 87 percent more
than the median pay for the last three years.
According to a Los Angeles Times story about the report, 30 firms with
a collective pension deficit of $131 billion at the end of 2002 paid
their chief executives a total of $352 million that year.
The report's authors also pointed out a growing trend of securing
executive pension plans with special trusts, even as pensions for
rank-and-file workers were sinking.
"This study picked up on a number of important themes that are
emerging in the post-Enron environment," Brandon Rees, research
analyst at the AFL-CIO's office of investment, was quoted as saying.
"One of the most important ones is that executives are sheltering
their retirement plans from the risks that everyone else is expected
to shoulder."
But that's just the way corporate America has evolved through the
years.
The pressure for short-term profits, measured by a frenzied Wall
Street every quarter, is incredibly strong.
That's why American workers are laid off so cheaper labor can be hired
in some Third World country.
It's why corporations hire lawyers to find loopholes that will save
them from paying their fair share of taxes.
The more they can cut costs, the better the bottom line looks so the
stock price stays healthy.
Meanwhile, American workers suffer the most.
But as the country loses more and more jobs and the biggest of the big
evade more taxes, everyone else suffers, too.
_______________________________________________________
Remember ole Chainsaw Al?
From The New York Times, 5/16/01:
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/05/16/business/16SEC.html
S.E.C. Accuses Former Sunbeam Official of Fraud
By FLOYD NORRIS
Albert J. Dunlap directed a huge accounting fraud as chief executive
of the Sunbeam Corporation and was aided by a partner of Arthur
Andersen, the firm that audited Sunbeam's books, the Securities and
Exchange Commission contends in a civil case filed yesterday.
Mr. Dunlap, who embraced the nickname Chainsaw Al, became a corporate
star in the 1990's, making tens of millions for himself as he laid off
thousands of employees in the name of efficiency.
Sunbeam's stock leaped nearly 50 percent the day he was hired to run
the company in 1996, and his memoirs became a best seller.
But the S.E.C. suit, filed in federal court in Miami, said the Sunbeam
turnaround directed by Mr. Dunlap was a sham.
The executives "orchestrated a fraudulent scheme to create the
illusion of a successful restructuring of Sunbeam and facilitate the
sale of the company at an inflated price," the S.E.C. said.
"This case is the latest in our ongoing fight against fraudulent
earnings-management practices" that have cost investors billions of
dollars, said Richard H. Walker, the commission's director of
enforcement.
_____________________________________________
Chainsaw Al. Another one of those corporate "cost cutters" who
sacrificed thousands at the altar of the bottom line and their own
pockets.
Harry
"Under a forehead roughly comparable to that of Javanese and Piltdown
man are visible a pair of tiny pig eyes, lit up alternately by greed
and concupiscence."
S J Perelman
.
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| User: "Tempest" |
|
| Title: Re: CEOs rewarded for cutting workers |
01 Sep 2003 05:56:30 PM |
|
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In a related note, Michael Moore's "Roger & Me" was recently released on
DVD.
I bought it and watched it this weekend. The story is as relevant today
as it was in 1989.
Harry Hope wrote:
From The Madison Capital Times, 9/1/03:
http://www.madison.com/captimes/opinion/column/zweifel/55882.php
By Dave Zweifel
Here's a sobering report on this, the day we honor working American
men and women.
The Institute for Policy Studies and United for a Fair Economy have
concluded that chief executives of companies that had the largest
layoffs and most underfunded pensions and that moved operations
offshore to avoid U.S. taxes were rewarded with the biggest pay hikes
in 2002.
That's the result of the way executive incentive pay is constructed in
the United States these days - the more you mess with workers and the
more you avoid paying taxes, the more money you get.
According to the institute's study, the median pay increase for CEOs
in 2002 was a relatively meager 6 percent.
But that median pay rocketed to 44 percent for the CEOs of the 50
companies with the biggest layoffs in 2001 - companies like
Hewlett-Packard, which laid off 26,000 workers, and AOL Time Warner,
which jettisoned 4,380.
At the 30 companies with the biggest shortfalls in their employees'
pension plans during 2002, the chief executives made 59 percent more
than the CEO median across the nation.
And at the 24 companies with the most offshore subsidiaries in
countries that levy few, if any, taxes, CEOs earned 87 percent more
than the median pay for the last three years.
According to a Los Angeles Times story about the report, 30 firms with
a collective pension deficit of $131 billion at the end of 2002 paid
their chief executives a total of $352 million that year.
The report's authors also pointed out a growing trend of securing
executive pension plans with special trusts, even as pensions for
rank-and-file workers were sinking.
"This study picked up on a number of important themes that are
emerging in the post-Enron environment," Brandon Rees, research
analyst at the AFL-CIO's office of investment, was quoted as saying.
"One of the most important ones is that executives are sheltering
their retirement plans from the risks that everyone else is expected
to shoulder."
But that's just the way corporate America has evolved through the
years.
The pressure for short-term profits, measured by a frenzied Wall
Street every quarter, is incredibly strong.
That's why American workers are laid off so cheaper labor can be hired
in some Third World country.
It's why corporations hire lawyers to find loopholes that will save
them from paying their fair share of taxes.
The more they can cut costs, the better the bottom line looks so the
stock price stays healthy.
Meanwhile, American workers suffer the most.
But as the country loses more and more jobs and the biggest of the big
evade more taxes, everyone else suffers, too.
_______________________________________________________
Remember ole Chainsaw Al?
From The New York Times, 5/16/01:
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/05/16/business/16SEC.html
S.E.C. Accuses Former Sunbeam Official of Fraud
By FLOYD NORRIS
Albert J. Dunlap directed a huge accounting fraud as chief executive
of the Sunbeam Corporation and was aided by a partner of Arthur
Andersen, the firm that audited Sunbeam's books, the Securities and
Exchange Commission contends in a civil case filed yesterday.
Mr. Dunlap, who embraced the nickname Chainsaw Al, became a corporate
star in the 1990's, making tens of millions for himself as he laid off
thousands of employees in the name of efficiency.
Sunbeam's stock leaped nearly 50 percent the day he was hired to run
the company in 1996, and his memoirs became a best seller.
But the S.E.C. suit, filed in federal court in Miami, said the Sunbeam
turnaround directed by Mr. Dunlap was a sham.
The executives "orchestrated a fraudulent scheme to create the
illusion of a successful restructuring of Sunbeam and facilitate the
sale of the company at an inflated price," the S.E.C. said.
"This case is the latest in our ongoing fight against fraudulent
earnings-management practices" that have cost investors billions of
dollars, said Richard H. Walker, the commission's director of
enforcement.
_____________________________________________
Chainsaw Al. Another one of those corporate "cost cutters" who
sacrificed thousands at the altar of the bottom line and their own
pockets.
Harry
"Under a forehead roughly comparable to that of Javanese and Piltdown
man are visible a pair of tiny pig eyes, lit up alternately by greed
and concupiscence."
S J Perelman
--
"The West won the world not by the superiority of its ideas or values or
religion but rather by its superiority in applying organized violence.
Westerners often forget this fact, non-Westerners never do."
Samuel P. Huntington
.
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| User: "DJ" |
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| Title: Re: CEOs rewarded for cutting workers |
01 Sep 2003 10:42:26 PM |
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Things won't change until workers and investors demand it, and then
maybe our representatives and corporate leaders will change.
Workforce flexibility (i.e., layoffs) in theory is suppose to be a
good thing for "corporations" and the economy. HHHhhhhmmmm..., guess
it depends on what side of the pink slip you are on. But, I've
recently read about some companies that have reduced pay, rather than
layoff, and even asked the workforce to be flexible in what jobs they
perform. I'd rather see something like that, rather than completely
letting someone go. It is nice when we treat our workers as if they
were real people, with real lives, that actually live in our
communities. I think it is a win-win situation.
We get our current system, because we have allowed it to continue.
The boardrooms are filled with good'ol boys and girls that rather than
provide leadership, let inept CEO's dictate the ways of the
corporation. We treat CEO's in this country as if they are endangered
species. They are not. Fire their ***** asses and quit the stock
options - they aren't working - and stop the special management only
benefits - treat all workers the same.
I always look at management and the Board before investing and try to
make investments in companies that I would want to work for. It is
amazing the small number that is. Granted, most people don't care, as
long as they make money on the stock. I'm just not wired that way. I
can't invest in a corporation that doesn't care about its employees
(which could be my relatives, friends, neighbors) or the environment.
It is unfortunate that problems aren't taken seriously when they
happen to others. Typically folks don't care much about anything
unless it happens to them or their family. There has to be enough
pain for enough people in order to get change. Argh!
In the early 90's I know someone who was retired. Their company
terminated all benefits to retirees. Retirees were notified well
after the decision was made. The letter received in May went something
like, "As of April we have terminated your healthcare...". So these
retirees, many with preexisting conditions had to scramble to find
supplement health insurance and hope they could get it. But it was a
small company, no one cared. Now that health care costs and
termination is getting more prevalent, more people are starting to
care. NOW its a problem.
On a side note, I actually don't think companies should provide
healthcare at all. It isn't their responsibility (I don't think
corporations should have to do the government's work in employee
payroll taxes either, but that is another thread). But this is the
system we currently have in place and when some companies provide
healthcare and some don't, it makes it more difficult for those
individuals working/worked for those that don't (i.e., artificially
raised prices due to insurance and bureaucracy).
What do folks think aboug Grasso (NYSE CEO) getting $140M? Has he
"earned" it?
These are good sites for executive comp information and
executive/corporate behavior:
http://www.thecorporatelibrary.com/
http://www.aflcio.org/corporateamerica/paywatch/
You gotta read this article, you won't believe what some CEO's do, and
get paid:
The Prime of Ms. Nell Minow
For the shareholder activist, these have been both the best and the
worst of times.
http://www.cfo.com/Article?article=8842
"...
Minow's message is twofold: boards of directors must be improved, and
shareholders must take more responsibility for seeing that they are.
In her view, boards that have complete access to corporate financial
information and are not controlled by CEOs are the best defense
against corruption. The meltdowns at Enron, Tyco, and WorldCom, she
says, point to the need for a "board that can exercise oversight over
the CEO and not just sit there and applaud politely through PowerPoint
pep-rally presentations."
....
We'd expressed mild concern about some of the companies that melted
down. But even in my wildest and most-paranoid fantasies, it never
occurred to me that there would be this level of corruption and
neglect.
....
The fact is, we haven't seen widespread corruption on the level of
Tyco or accounting fraud on the level of Enron and WorldCom. We have
seen widespread excessive executive pay, widespread poor financial
reporting, and widespread neglectful boards.
....
"
DJ
--
From The Madison Capital Times, 9/1/03:
http://www.madison.com/captimes/opinion/column/zweifel/55882.php
By Dave Zweifel
Here's a sobering report on this, the day we honor working American
men and women.
The Institute for Policy Studies and United for a Fair Economy have
concluded that chief executives of companies that had the largest
layoffs and most underfunded pensions and that moved operations
offshore to avoid U.S. taxes were rewarded with the biggest pay hikes
in 2002.
That's the result of the way executive incentive pay is constructed in
the United States these days - the more you mess with workers and the
more you avoid paying taxes, the more money you get.
.
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