Part 9 – “They have taken bailouts from taxpayers with impunity, and continue to give Executives exorbitant bonuses.”
I might have to revisit this one because I don’t think I can do it justice off the top of my head like most of these posts have been, but I’ll try now.
The “bailouts” were the result of a Congress and President exceeding their constitutional authority under the commerce clause. It’s kind of stupid to blame a company for “TAKING” money from a congress that shouldn’t have been GIVING the bailouts in the first place! I think it’s funny that Obama and Congress slip past the watchful eye of the OWS folks here in spite of the fact that several of the banks who took bailout money only did so under pressure from the Treasury and the Fed! it’s sort of like blaming a car-buyer for “taking” cash-for-clinkers money.
As for bonuses, I ask WHAT BUSINESS IS THAT OF YOURS? Seriously even my wife got upset about the bonuses once and I had to ask her: “Do you own stock in Bank of America?” The only people who have the RIGHT to be upset about executive bonuses are the shareholders in the companies paying the bonuses…PERIOD!!! Anybody else is just blowing hot air.
And the executive compensation issue raises another question: Why is the CEO of HP not entitled to a seven figure salary or an eight figure bonus but a professional athlete is? Is Tiger Woods more valuable than Meg Whitman? Is it more valuable to be able to throw a football 80 yards with laser precision or to be able to run a company with hundreds of thousands of employees and billions of dollars in revenue? Is it more valuable to be able to help a company innovate and change the lives of millions of people or to be able to sink a golf-ball 3 under par?
THINK ABOUT IT!!! I don’t see any of these kids bitching because their favorite fullback got a million dollar bonus for LOSING the Superbowl. SO why are they so concerned about corporate leaders being compensated for the high stress and high pressure of running companies that are the engines of growth in our economy?