Corporate Pay
It seems like every day we hear of some big company CEO receiving outlandish paychecks for poor performance. Here is one I just read about:
Ray Irani
CEO of Occidental Petroleum, where share value fell by 22 percent for 2008. Yet, the board of directors paid Irani a whopping $60.5 million for his “superior performance.” Of course, his performance must not have been as good as 2007, when he received $77.6 million.
For comparison, let’s look at:
William Crenshaw
CEO of Publix Super Markets, Inc., a grocer that posted a 4 percent increase in sales ($23.9 Billion) in 2008, while other grocery firms trended downward. Because of the recession, Crenshaw asked the company’s board not to increase his pay. Oh, Crenshaw’s 2008 pay?–$795,466.
It appears to me that something is wrong with this situation–no one person is worth $60, $70, $80 million in annual pay. This is especially true when their companies have performed poorly.
I guess it must be all right though, since our Treasury Secretary said the government should not be involved in compensation issues at the big “bailout” banks. Apparently, Mr. Geithner only wants to control auto industry compensation.
Am I the only one that becomes infuriated over this stuff?
How Bad Off is Our Banking System?
For some reason, the mainstream media never made much mention (at least I never saw or heard it) of how close we came to a total collapse of our banking system and the world economy as well.
Listen to what Rep. Paul Kanjorski (D-Pennsylvania) told an interviewer on C-Span recently. It doesn’t get frightening until about 2:24 into the video.
Maybe we were too harsh in our criticism of Secretary Paulson when he changed courses when spending the bank bailout money. We also may be too harsh in criticizing Secretary Geithner when he said it would take a lot of time, and a lot of money to get us out of this mess. It appears the economic crisis was-and is-much more serious than we thought.
I just wish government would tell it to us straight and give us some detailed assurances that they know what the problems are and that they know how to correct them–and what it might cost. Hopefully President Obama and Secretary Geithner will be doing that shortly. The American public needs to know just how bad things are, and what it is going to take to correct our economic problems. If it is going to take $3 trillion, tell us now.
Small Business–Hammered Again!
Well, our all-knowing Congress appears to be doing it again—hunting mice with a cannon.
Somehow, I missed all the prior controversy over a new law about to take effect: the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA). But then, the mainstream media has barely mentioned it.
It seems that this act threatens to drive out of business tens of thousands of small makers of children’s products (not just toys—it appears that zippers and snaps are now considered “lethal”). Moreover, any thrift shop that sells secondhand children’s products (including clothes) will be put at risk for liability.
I am still trying to get up to speed on the elements of this new law, but attorneys are referring to February 10, 2009 as “bankruptcy day”—the day the new law takes effect. Apparently, that is when all manufacturers must “freeze” inventories of children’s products, and components of children’s products, until they can be modified (or destroyed) to comply with CPSIA. Many small businesses in this industry will not be able to afford such a drastic requirement. This could impact as many as 50,000 small businesses…not to mention the impact on retail stores and thrift shops.
It seems like Congress, in its infinite wisdom, will be putting people out of work faster than their stimulus plan can create new jobs. But then, I guess most members of Congress believe it is their duty to protect us from ourselves.
For more information on CPSIA, check out CPSIA Chronicles, February 6.
FLASH: There has been a partial and ineffective reprieve (check out the Chronicles). What’s going on in Washington makes the Keystone Cops look organized.
China’s Continued Growth
I just read an interesting article about China’s economy in a recent issue of Newsweek. It is expected to only grow by about 7% in 2009, while the other Big 5 economies in the world are expected to slow to a near standstill—or worse. Of course, China is only a semi-free economy since the government still exerts a strong and stabilizing hand.
There are several reasons for China’s continued growth presented in the article, but I found one thing especially interesting—most of the government leaders are engineers; they know how to work from a plan.
Could we have too many lawyers in Washington…and not enough engineers?
What do you think?
Pay Raises for Congress
Well, I guess it is appropriate for members of Congress to give themselves a pay raise this month—after all, it will only cost taxpayers a mere $2.5 million. After the billions (soon to be trillions?) Congress has been handing out, this is simply “pocket change.”
Of course, it might not set too well with the millions of American workers who are giving up their cost-of-living raises in an effort to save their jobs—if they still have them.
If you think this might not be a good time for your elected officials to take a pay raise, you might let them know how you feel.
“So Help Me God”
Have you read about the lawsuit filed by Michael Newdow, trying to force President-elect Obama to leave out the phrase “so help me God” at the end of his oath of office? Obama has spoken much about God over the past months, and it seems reasonable that he would want to ask for divine guidance on the most momentous day of his life—especially considering the trials he will be facing when the oath is completed.
I had always thought that the Presidential oath, as laid down in the Constitution, included the phrase “so help me God.” It doesn’t. The Congressional oath for Congressmen and other government employees does, but for the President, the Constitutional oath of office ends by swearing to “preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States.” That’s all. It appears the phrase “so help me God” is an elective addition of somewhat recent vintage. No one seems to know exactly when it was, or was not, used, but it appears to be a twentieth century addition.
Likewise, the use of clergy to give the Invocation. Historians believe Franklyn D. Roosevelt (as he was facing war) was the first to invite an outside clergy to give the Invocation. Dwight Eisenhower used four clergy, and Billy Graham prayed at eight Inaugurations. Now, however, public prayers by Christian clergy at a Presidential Inauguration appears to be a problem for some.
It will be interesting to see what the courts decide, and what President-elect Obama will say as he closes his oath of office.
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