--------------------------------------------------------
November 7, 2006 Op-Ed Columnist
America’s Laziest Man?
By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF
Last year, Barry Diller took home a pay package worth $469 million, making him the highest-paid chief executive in America.
His shareholders didn’t do so well. Stock in the main company he runs, IAC/Interactive, declined 7.7 percent last year. For the three years ending in December 2005, the stock was up just 11 percent — compared with 49 percent for the S. & P. 500. ...
IAC ... said that the package was necessary to “motivate Mr. Diller for the future.” Goodness, this man needs a lot of motivation! He required about $150,000 every hour just to get motivated — suggesting that he may be the laziest man in America. ...
<http://select.nytimes.com/2006/11/07/opinion/07kristof.html?hp>
--------------------------------------------------------
So far, so good. What stunned me was the graf below from this column:
"There’s nothing wrong, in principle, with a big pay package. Baseball players, movie stars and investment bankers often get outrageous pay, but after arms-length negotiations. That is capitalism at work, and nobody is getting ripped off."
Being able simultaneously to observe that some individuals "get outrageous pay" while also maintaining "nobody is getting ripped off" -- that's doublethink at its most redoubtable.
Carl
_________________________________________________________________ Stay in touch with old friends and meet new ones with Windows Live Spaces http://clk.atdmt.com/MSN/go/msnnkwsp0070000001msn/direct/01/?href=http://spaces.live.com/spacesapi.aspx?wx_action=create&wx_url=/friends.aspx&mkt=en-us