http://www.populist.com/06.22.sawicky.html
http://www.populist.com/03.07.sawicky.html
B. wrote:
> Personally, I'm down with populist resentment.
> Bitterness, torches, angry crowd, and pitchforks,
> folks! Of course, I have heard everyone from Michael
> moore to Pat Buchana called a "populist," so I am not
> entirely certain what the term means. I can tell you
> what a Poli Sci 11 text says it means, but that also
> seems at odds with how it's employed casually. -B.]
>
>
> =============
>
>
> CEO pay rose higher in '07 despite economic woes
>
> By RACHEL BECK and MATTHEW FORDAHL, AP Business
> Writers
> Sun Jun 15, 1:51 PM ET
>
> As the American economy slowed to a crawl and
> stockholders watched their money evaporate, CEO pay
> still chugged to yet more dizzying heights last year,
> an Associated Press analysis shows.
>
> The AP review of compensation for the heads of
> companies in the Standard & Poor's 500 index finds the
> median pay package added up to nearly $8.4 million.
> That's a comfortable gain of about $280,000 from 2006.
>
> The 3 1/2 percent pay increase for CEOs came even as
> the landscape for both workers and shareholders
> darkened considerably and the economy was choked by a
> housing market in free fall, layoffs and soaring
> prices for fuel and food.
>
> At the top of the AP list: John Thain, who took the
> reins of Merrill Lynch on Dec. 1, 2007. His $83
> million pay package was supercharged by a signing
> bonus and other enticements that lured him from the
> New York Stock Exchange to lead the investment bank as
> it was suffering its worst-ever losses.
>
> Collectively, the 10 best-paid CEOs made more than
> half a billion dollars last year. Yet half the members
> of this stratospheric club were leading companies
> whose profits shrank dramatically.
>
> The AP examination of CEO pay in 2007 mined data from
> the 410 companies in the S&P 500 that filed
> compensation disclosures with federal regulators in
> the first six months of this year.
>
> The AP's formula, based on data from the past two
> years, adds up salary, perks, bonuses, above-market
> interest on pay set aside for later, and company
> estimates for the value of stock options and stock
> awards on the day they were granted last year.
>
> That provides a clearer picture than pay totals
> required by the Securities and Exchange Commission,
> compensation experts say, because the SEC totals
> include expenses companies book during the year for
> previously granted stock compensation and retirement
> benefits.
>
> The value of stock and options given to CEOs may turn
> out to be significantly higher or lower if they are
> ultimately cashed out, but the numbers in the AP
> formula do reflect the board of directors' estimate of
> the likely eventual payout.
>
> The median salary figure of about $8.4 million means
> half the CEOs in the AP analysis made more than that
> and half made less.
>
>
> [...]
>
>
> Rick Wagoner, chief executive of General Motors Corp.,
> announced earlier this month the company had to close
> four plants that make trucks and SUVs because of
> lagging demand as fuel prices soar. That followed the
> posting a $39 billion loss in 2007, a year when its
> stock price fell by about 19 percent, without
> adjusting for dividends.
>
> And Wagoner? His pay rose 64 percent, to $15.7
> million.
>
> Last year was rocky for the economy and the stock
> market, making it a useful test of a concept called
> pay for performance — a term companies use to sell
> shareholders on the idea CEOs are being paid based on
> how well the company does.
>
> According to this concept, trotted out frequently by
> the compensation committees of corporate boards in
> their proxy statements, a big chunk of CEO pay is
> considered "at risk," meaning it could disappear if
> CEOs don't meet established metrics.
>
> But the AP analysis found that CEO pay rose and fell
> regardless of the direction of a company's stock price
> or profits.
>
> [...]
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