CEOs Solve Economy’s Woes

For most of us, the economy’s woes are so complicated and vexing that we don’t know where to begin.  We’re just trying to hang on, hoping the housing market will recover, gas prices will decline, and recent Midwest floods won’t cause food prices to spike.  Meanwhile, the CEOs of the companies in the Standard & Poor’s 500 index have solved the economy’s problems.  How did they do it?

They raised their pay.  According to an Associated Press analysis of these CEOs’ compensation, the median pay in 2007 was $8.4 million, up an average of $280,000 per CEO over the preceding year.  This disclosure comes as regular employee compensation stagnates and regular employees lose their jobs due to budget cuts ordered by the CEOs.

The CEO of Merrill Lynch takes the cake and the icing.  His annual pay package was $83 million.  He was brought in to help the firm recover from its worst-ever losses.  No way to know yet whether he’s up to the task, but why in the world would he care?

The ten best-paid CEOs made over half a billion dollars last year.  The profits of their companies were dramatically lower for the year.  Is this pure genius or what?

It’s pure something.  As employees and workplaces struggle day to day, their leaders reap the financial rewards of kings (and an occasional queen).  Royalty is what they’ve become, removed from the common man and woman and talking only to other royals.  The message to their subjects?  ”Let them eat cake.”

In today’s economy, one might be so bold as to ask how these people live with themselves?  Apparently, quite well.  Unless recklesly extravagant, they’re paid enough in one year to live comfortably the rest of their lives.  They will, of course, defend their pay by arguing that they do the hard work, their stress is more harrowing than that of a mere employee, and they alone must shoulder the weight of the company’s success or failure.  They will also sell you the London Bridge.

The CEO compensation examined by the AP is inexplicable.  While there’s a fair amount of union activity these days, it’s hard to understand why there’s not much more.   Although employment litigation continues to increase, it’s hard to understand why it hasn’t experienced a volcanic eruption.  It’s hard to understand why more employees aren’t fighting the Man.

Perhaps the present economic woes have persuaded most employees that it’s better to have a job than make a statement of principle.  Fear is a strong motivator and a strong deterrent. 

When the founders decided that our country would be a republic, not a monarchy, they made no provision to keep private citizens from becoming monarchs.  We have them now.  We’ve had them before.  In times of economic downturn, the separation between them and their knaves becomes more noticeable–to the employees.  The CEOs are unaware.  They are the people in our country, our world, our workplace who have no shame.