Profiling CEOs and Their Sociopathic Paychecks

[dreamdancer 0]

a union of sociopaths...

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The Wall Street Journal reported last week that "Executives and other highly compensated employees now receive more than one-third of all pay in the US... Highly paid employees received nearly $2.1 trillion of the $6.4 trillion in total US pay in 2007, the latest figures available."

One of the questions often asked when the subject of CEO pay comes up is, "What could a person such as William McGuire or Lee Raymond (the former CEOs of UnitedHealth and ExxonMobil, respectively) possibly do to justify a $1.7 billion paycheck or a $400 million retirement bonus?"

It's an interesting question. If there is a "free market" of labor for CEOs, then you'd think there would be a lot of competition for the jobs. And a lot of people competing for the positions would drive down the pay. All UnitedHealth's stockholders would have to do to avoid paying more than $1 billion to McGuire is find somebody to do the same CEO job for half a billion. And all they'd have to do to save even more is find somebody to do the job for a mere $100 million. Or maybe even somebody who'd work the necessary sixty-hour weeks for only $1 million.

So why is executive pay so high?

I've examined this with both my psychotherapist hat on and my amateur economist hat on, and only one rational answer presents itself: CEOs in America make as much money as they do because there really is a shortage of people with their skill set. And it's such a serious shortage that some companies have to pay as much as $1 million a day to have somebody successfully do the job.

But what part of being a CEO could be so difficult-so impossible for mere mortals-that it would mean that there are only a few hundred individuals in the United States capable of performing it?

In my humble opinion, it's the sociopath part.

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/07/27

stay away from moving propellers - they bite
blue skies from thai sky adventures
good solid response-provoking keyboarding

[lawrocket 3]

Considering how many millions of duffers are out there, there is no reason why Tiger Woods should make as much as he does. I mean, he couldn't even make the cut at the British Open.

take a look at professional athletes. Only the very best of the very best get to a level of fame and fortune. And they make this money because their bosses make money and achieve success from them (except A-Rod, who should have taken roids in Octobers).

A-list Hollywood? Yes, Harrison Ford gets paid a lot. He's also made more money for the studios than just about anybody.

Is there arrogance involved? Yeah. Probably. Sociopathy? I draw the line at receiving a paycheck being sociopathic.

Note: $6.4 trillion is the American paycheck for last year. Doesn't that put the national debt in some serious perspective regarding its goliath size?

My wife is hotter than your wife.

[metalslug 31]

Sociopathy is a loosely-defined term that may be used to refer to several things.
What would you like to refer to? ...and why is this an unacceptable quality for a professional in this position to have?

Some forms of big business have daily turnovers in millions of dollars. One decision, one comment to the media, one deal.. can translate to millions in losses or gains.
This is not to say that all CEO paycheques are justified, but some may well be.

If the CEO that takes $1million per day is also making $5million per day for his shareholders, then that is probably preferable to the $10k CEO that only makes $1million for his shareholders.
For the directors and shareholders that appoint and pay these CEO's, it's often a case of simple math.

[futuredivot 0]

Please disable your copy/paste for a day. I'd like to know what YOU think.

You are only as strong as the prey you devour

[loumeinhart 0]

Dreamweaver thinks that CEO's should make 30k/yr. Because then it would be .. fair.

[turtlespeed 212]

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Please disable your copy/paste for a day. I'd like to know what YOU think.

If he could think he would eb a CEO making Millions.

I'm not usually into the whole 3-way thing, but you got me a little excited with that. - Skymama
BTR #1 / OTB^5 Official #2 / Hellfish #408 / VSCR #108/Tortuga/Orfun

[kbordson 8]

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Dreamweaver thinks that CEO's should make 30k/yr. Because then it would be .. fair.

You forgot to add

AND that the minimum wage should be 30k/yr.... in the US.


-but... what policies and changes does he want for HIS country?

[futuredivot 0]

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Dreamweaver thinks that CEO's should make 30k/yr. Because then it would be .. fair.

Fair is where you by cotton candy-doesn't have much to do with life-----except for all the people that waste their's complaining that life ain't fair

You are only as strong as the prey you devour

[turtlespeed 212]

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Dreamweaver thinks that CEO's should make 30k/yr. Because then it would be .. fair.

You forgot to add

AND that the minimum wage should be 30k/yr.... in the US.


-but... what policies and changes does he want for HIS country?

Me: So - If I you had 2 cars would you give me one?
Dream: Yes Comrade! We are communist - Of course I would

Me: So - If you had 2 Computers, would you give me one?
Dream: OF COURSE - It's COMMUNITY - Why are you asking?

Me: Well if you had 2 Ipods, would you give me one?
Dream: No.

Me: No? Why not?
Dream - Well, I HAVE 2 ipods.

I'm not usually into the whole 3-way thing, but you got me a little excited with that. - Skymama
BTR #1 / OTB^5 Official #2 / Hellfish #408 / VSCR #108/Tortuga/Orfun

[kelpdiver 2]

Dream (and the commie writer he mimics) doesn't realize that "highly compensated employees" is anyone that makes more than the ceiling for Social Security taxes.

I'm one of those. In SF, that makes me a renter. If I want to overcommit resources and obligations, I could have a condo. It takes a DINK household of "highly compensated employees" to buy what would be considered an acceptably nice house in an acceptably nice neighborhood (and still have bums pissing on the street in front).

[quade 3]

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Dreamweaver thinks that CEO's should make 30k/yr. Because then it would be .. fair.

I'm curious what level of compensation you believe would be "fair" for top level government employees?

Why is a guy that runs a company compensated more than the guy that runs the entire government?

Is the CEO -really- doing something that is that much more difficult?

I don't think so. Then again, I don't think anybody gets compensated for the difficulty of what they do. I believe people get compensated for how much somebody else "believes" is the least amount they can get away with paying them.

In the case of a CEO, the board of directors makes this decision. How they make that decision is sometimes rational and sometimes, well, a pretty blatant conflict of interest. So, it's NOT always a rational decision based on return to shareholders but sometimes a pretty big scheme to keep the money for themselves and fuck their shareholders over.

Just because a CEO takes home a half billion dollars in a year does NOT mean he's actually worth that much to the people that invested in the company. It may just mean he's a big fuckin' crook.

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[kbordson 8]

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Just because a CEO takes home a half billion dollars in a year does NOT mean he's actually worth that much to the people that invested in the company. It may just mean he's a big fuckin' crook.

I don't think that he's a "crook" - He signed a contract with the company that he works for. If they didn't want to hire him for that, if he's not "worth" that to the company, then they should NOT have given that contract. If the company has chosen to employ his (or her) services at $X and he takes home $X, that does NOT make him a "crook."

Now... whether you, or I, feel that he deserves that paycheck is irrelevant to their business contract.

[quade 3]

Enron.

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[shropshire 0]

I (seriously) don't care what others 'make'... I only care about me and mine. Life's too short.

There are loads of people who get paid a lot for doing bugger all. It would be a full time job for us to worry about it... S.U.M.O - Shut (the fuck) Up and Move On

(.)Y(.)
Chivalry is not dead; it only sleeps for want of work to do. - Jerome K Jerome

[kelpdiver 2]

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Just because a CEO takes home a half billion dollars in a year does NOT mean he's actually worth that much to the people that invested in the company. It may just mean he's a big fuckin' crook.

Which CEO would this be? Hyperbole rarely works well in these discussions. Salaries are not remotely so high, so these numbers are centered on stock options, some of which are granted, some of which are purchased.

The CEO of my company is going to take close to 100M from the sale of the company. Much of it came from options he chose to purchase. And the sale price was over 10B. Do I think he's a crook - not a chance. I know he worked a hell of a lot more days than the last President did.

That's a key difference between the CEOs and the top government officials. They can slack - Ed Kennedy, Condaliza Rice, Barbara Boxer, Sarah Palin, the head of the EPA ... these are pretty cushy jobs. These people can do great things for our country and all the people and businesses within, or they can sit on their asses and collect great pensions and health care benefits. CEOs don't have that luxury.

Look at the attention paid to Marc Andriessen. I'm part of the crowd that thinks dumb luck can beat skill, but because Netscape investors cleared 1000%, he'll always be in the (drunken) god category. Govenmemt officials might take 30% instead of 40%. So differentiation isn't so important. A lot more people can be yes men, I mean, Cabinet members than can be CEO of GE.

[FreeflyChile 0]

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I (seriously) don't care what others 'make'... I only care about me and mine. Life's too short.

There are loads of people who get paid a lot for doing bugger all. It would be a full time job for us to worry about it... S.U.M.O - Shut (the fuck) Up and Move On

Amen to that!

Also, at the risk of sounding greedy, I don't think I see myself in the situation where someone offers me a job and shows me the compensation and I say 'no, you're paying me too much, please, pay me less'.

[quade 3]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enron

There are other examples, but I think this is maybe the most widely known right now.

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[kelpdiver 2]

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enron

There are other examples, but I think this is maybe the most widely known right now.

I see no example in there of someone earning 500M in one year. Schilling got $132M, and 24 years in prison.

And it's not a good example anyway - Enron was a case of fraud and the top guys were put in jail, and a big 5 accounting firm ceased to exist afterwards. It's no different, and not nearly as disturbing as the idea that the Bush family engaged in war with Iraq to benefit their financial interests, killing thousands of Americans and hundreds of thousands (or millions) or Iraqis. Doesn't that seem far more sociopathic?

[quade 3]

You're right. Enron is also not a perfect one, but is an example of how some powerful people in this country do, in fact, use their companies and conspire to make themselves wealthy at the expense of the rest of us.

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It's no different, and not nearly as disturbing as the idea that the Bush family engaged in war with Iraq to benefit their financial interests, killing thousands of Americans and hundreds of thousands (or millions) or Iraqis. Doesn't that seem far more sociopathic?

No disagreement on this account if you believe in that.

I personally don't believe Bush himself would be at the head of that conspiracy, but rather those that put him in that position; the PNAC, including Cheney.

But the point is essentially correct.

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[chasteh 0]

>Doesn't that seem far more sociopathic?

Oh yea. The Iraq war resulted in more deaths than Enron did.

The Enron scandal is still sociopathic. It just goes to show that if we want a system based on self-interest, that there absolutely cannot be market protection mechanisms in place for specific persons with vested interests. Freedom + obscene incentives = greed. Now all we have to answer for is the flame-war that is about to occur: Who receives more government money: Cadillac Queens or mega corporations?

[chasteh 0]

>Dreamweaver thinks that CEO's should make 30k/yr. Because then it would be .. fair.

Poor CEOs! I mean, why do guys like dreamweaver have to always get in the way of real, honest, hard-working entrepreneurs like Mega CEOs?

Look! Over there! Its a CEO! Someone should tell him to get a real job. I know, lets give him millions of dollars, take money from his hard working lobbyists, and then act like we hate welfare queens by blaming them for taxing us into oblivion!

[turtlespeed 212]

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>Dreamweaver thinks that CEO's should make 30k/yr. Because then it would be .. fair.

Poor CEOs! I mean, why do guys like dreamweaver have to always get in the way of real, honest, hard-working entrepreneurs like Mega CEOs?

Look! Over there! Its a CEO! Someone should tell him to get a real job. I know, lets give him millions of dollars, take money from his hard working lobbyists, and then act like we hate welfare queens by blaming them for taxing us into oblivion!

Jealousy doesn't become you.

I'm not usually into the whole 3-way thing, but you got me a little excited with that. - Skymama
BTR #1 / OTB^5 Official #2 / Hellfish #408 / VSCR #108/Tortuga/Orfun

[Bolas 5]

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Now all we have to answer for is the flame-war that is about to occur: Who receives more government money: Cadillac Queens or mega corporations?

I can't speak for others, but I find both just as despicable.

Stupidity if left untreated is self-correcting
If ya can't be good, look good, if that fails, make 'em laugh.

[chasteh 0]

Myth: A Huge Chunk of My Tax Dollars Supports Welfare Recipients

Fact: Welfare Costs 1 Percent of the Federal Budget

"Despite increased program spending, the average monthly family benefit, measured in 1995 dollars, fell from $713 in 1970 to $377 in 1995, a 47 percent drop"

What percentage of the Federal Budget do the economic bailout packages come out to?

I can understand that you don't like either, but the corporate welfare, I think, is far less responsible and wasteful than child welfare.

[TomAiello 25]

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I can understand that you don't like either, but the corporate welfare, I think, is far less responsible and wasteful than child welfare.

I agree. Can we stop it, please?

The problem is that the lobbyists basically run the government, which hands money out to whichever special interest hires the best lobbyists.

The only way to end this cycle of dependency is to eliminate the golden egg--the trough of taxpayer dollars that the special interest (corporations and others) feed at. And the only way to do that is to reduce the size of government, and reduce it's scope to interfere in every aspect of our lives (and the slush fund it has to reward the lobbyists and their clients).

-- Tom Aiello

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