Executives

Executives https://www.dailykos.com/news/Executives News Community Action Copyright 2005 - Steal what you want Mon, 27 Jan 2020 21:22:51 +0000 Mon, 27 Jan 2020 21:22:51 +0000 Daily Kos rss@dailykos.com (Daily Kos) Daily Kos rss@dailykos.com (Daily Kos) The health care dilemma: better policy loses. https://www.dailykos.com/story/2019/7/31/1875604/-The-health-care-dilemma-better-policy-loses Let’s think rationally about health care. Private health insurance companies exist to maximize profits. They do not exist for the purpose of maximizing the health of their insured. They maximize profits by reducing their expenses and increasing their revenue. Reducing their expenses means covering less of the cost of health care for their insured. Reducing their expenses means not approving experimental health care for a person who has no hope of living without it. Reducing their expenses means only approving the less expensive method of treatment even if it is less effective and protecting that choice by fine print and good, expensive attorneys. Reducing their expenses means denying expensive but effective methods of treatment. As a public school teacher, I have seen my employer sponsored health insurance become more expensive and cover less with higher premiums and co pays every year. Health care costs increase 8% a year and health insurance companies because they exist to maximize profits for their shareholders pass those expenses onto the consumer. Private health insurance companies have a completely different motive than Medicare. Private health insurance companies have to pay for advertising. They have to pay overhead. They have to pay attorneys to help them get away with unethical behavior that saves them money. Private health insurance companies pay huge sums of money to their executives. People get trapped with their employer sponsored health insurance because if they leave their job that they hate then they lose their insurance. So, then they do not know what health insurance if any they will get. Their health insurance changes every year. It gets worse. For all of these reasons, the simple reality is that the free market is not a good method of providing health care. Medicare for All is better because its motivations are different and its expenses are lower. I think it is difficult to argue on the merits that the private health insurance industry offers anything of value. On the merits, Medicare for All seems to be clearly the better policy. It polls well ………………………………. within the Democratic Party — 64% to 31 % . So, what’s the problem ? It fails among the general election electorate. 158 million people have employer sponsored health insurance. 86% of them like it. That is 135.8 million people. That is close to the number of registered voters. The Medicare that we have today is not the Medicare for All that is being discussed. The big selling point, we were told, of using the phrase Medicare for All is the simplicity of it because everybody knows what Medicare is. However, the Medicare that we have today for seniors is far different than the Medicare for All that is being discussed. Let’s think about that. Medicare today for seniors is different than the Medicare for All that we are talking about today in what it covers, in its expenditures, in how it is funded, and in who is covered. Those are significant differences. We do not really know what it will look like at first, but it is likely to struggle based upon the experience of the ACA. Right now, it is funded by every person who works starting at age 15 is forced to contribute to it until they are 65 by taking part of their paycheck. Now, it does not cover hearing aids, glasses and dentistry. The Medicare for All that is being discussed today covers all of those health care issues. Medicare for All will have more expenditures because it will become much more complex with many more people employed to implement it. When we cover every man, woman, and child within our borders and we realize that health care costs increase 8% every year, then we have a huge financial obstacle that we face. Here is where the Republicans say the Death Panels exist. Either you have bureaucrats who are deciding to deny expensive treatments and who exist to manage their care and manage the costs or the costs will spiral out of control. So, they argue that you either have Death Panels or you have costs spiraling out of control. So, now you have 135.8 million people who like their employer sponsored health insurance. That is a huge proportion of the total number of registered voters in the entire country. You have two choices. You can either not scare and likely lose a huge percentage of those voters or you can try to explain why they would be better off with this new Medicare for All that is different than current Medicare. They have something that they like. They do not know what the new Medicare for All will be. Truly, nobody does. Are you going to take the risk of upsetting a lot of and probably the vast majority of those who like their employer sponsored health insurance ? How confident are you that you can persuade all of these people (or the vast majority of them) that their employer health insurance that they have and know and like should be eliminated and that they should not have a choice in the matter and that they should be forced onto a new Medicare for All that they do not know ? Can you persuade enough of these people to still win in the general election ? It is a <a href="https://thehill.com/hilltv/what-americas-thinking/428958-poll-voters-want-the-government-to-provide-healthcare-for" target="_blank">big</a> ask. <blockquote> In a Hill-HarrisX survey released Thursday, 13 percent of respondents said they would prefer a health care system that covers all citizens and doesn't allow for private plans, an approach that is sometimes referred to as "single-payer." The most popular option, at 32 percent, consisted of a universal, government-operated system that also would allow people to buy private, supplemental insurance. Twenty-six percent of respondents said they wanted a government insurance plan offered to all citizens, but one that doesn't compel people with private plans to use it, a system sometimes called a "public option." </blockquote> Again, it is a <a href="https://www.kff.org/health-reform/poll-finding/kff-health-tracking-poll-july-2019/" target="_blank">very</a> big ask : <blockquote> <ul> <li>Health care is playing a prominent role at the start of the 2020 presidential primary season with Democratic candidates offering competing proposals aimed at expanding coverage to more Americans. The latest KFF Health Tracking Poll finds a larger share of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents preferring approaches that expand coverage building on the Affordable Care Act (55%) rather than replacing the ACA with a national Medicare-for-all plan (39%).</li> <li>The poll also finds a slight dip in overall favorability of the idea of a national Medicare-for-all plan. About half (51%) of the public now say they favor such a proposal compared to 56% in April 2019. On the other hand, nearly two-thirds of the public (65%) favor a public option, which would compete with private health insurance plans and be available to all Americans. But as with polling on Medicare-for-all, attitudes toward this change to the current health care system can be swayed by common arguments. For example, net favorability towards such a plan ranges as high as +53 and as low as -18 after hearing arguments either in favor of or against a public option.</li> <li>The survey finds that, while a majority of the public hold favorable views of Medicare (83%), the public also has largely favorable views of employer-sponsored insurance (76%) and Medicaid (75%). In addition, both those with Medicare coverage (95%) and employer coverage (86%) rate their own health insurance coverage positively.</li> </ul> </blockquote> Are those numbers soft ? Do they reflect status quo bias ? Can they be moved over the course of a presidential campaign given the partisan nature of today’s electorate ? This is a big bet. Many of these people are republicans and they are reflexively going to oppose this. Telling 135.8 million people that you are going to boot them off of their health insurance without their having any say in it and force them on to a new government sponsored health insurance that they do not know seems to be political dynamite. It seems to me to be incredibly risky. I just do not think that over the course of a campaign and how it will be covered by the media that you can get enough of these 135.8 million people to come with you on this experiment. Therefore, even though Medicare for All is the better policy, I do not think that you can win with that policy because there are 135.8 million people who like their employer sponsored health insurance. However, allowing people who want to buy in to Medicare or a public option polls better and it is not hard to see why. People can decide for themselves which policy seems like it would be better for them. They get to make their own decision on their own health care. They get bodily autonomy. If they like the public option better, then they can choose that option. If they like their employer sponsored health insurance better, then they can choose that option. They get to make the choice. That is an easier sell. It polls better. It does not harm a candidate. You no longer have to argue that booting people who have employer sponsored health insurance that they like off of it even if they do not want to be thrown off of it is better because in theory those people are better off on the new Medicare for All policy. You are not starting with 135.8 million people against you. How confident are you that you can persuade 135.8 million people regarding this over the course of a campaign ? Think about how it will be covered by the media. Think about how it will be used as a propaganda weapon by the right, by conservative media. This is an interesting microcosm of the race as a whole. It looks to me like even though the better policy is Medicare for All, Medicare for America is the better policy to campaign on and win with. Medicare for America allows everybody a choice. If you have employer sponsored health insurance that you like and you want to keep it, you can. However, you can also compare it to the public option or a buy in to Medicare and choose to enroll in it instead. This policy gives people that choice and in America, people like choice. If you do not have health insurance through your parents or through Medicare already or through employer sponsored health insurance, then you are enrolled in Medicare for America. This makes sure that everybody is covered. Moreover, as Mayor Pete Buttigieg said, if people like him are correct, then the public option will provide better coverage at a lower cost than the other options and it will eventually lead to Medicare for All and move the public and public polling with it through their own personal experiences as they compare the different options. Here, then, the best policy is not the one that we can campaign on and win. The best policy is Medicare for All. However, the best policy that we can campaign on and still win is Medicare for America which will lead to Medicare for All. rss@dailykos.com (Dem) BetoORourke DonaldTrump Executives FreeMarket HealthCare healthcarepolling HealthInsurance Kaiser MayorPeteButtigieg MedicareForAll medicareforamerica Polling SenatorAmyKlobuchar senatorberniesanders SenatorElizabethWarren Treatment _1875604 Wed, 31 Jul 2019 13:00:28 +0000 Who Killed the American Auto Industry? Not Unions! https://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/8/14/1231113/-Who-Killed-the-American-Auto-Industry-Not-Unions The GOP meme has always been that Unions kill industries. They hold up the American Auto Industry as the prime example. It was not the Unions that has destroyed the American Industry but the greed of the American Auto Executives. Up until the 80s American car buyers had to order their new cars from a la carte menus. With or without such things as radios, heaters, defrosters, seat covers, air conditioning, power steering, and until mandated by Congress without seat belts. In the 60s-70s these pesky Japanese thought of a way to cut costs. They would not offer a al carte shopping for their but would offer only fully loaded car models. You know as the cars now a days. They had one more trick, all the cars on the lots were the same. All had the same options, radios, heaters, defrosters, seat covers, air conditioning, power steering, and same price tag. You could walk onto a Japanese car deanship and pick any car on the lot of the same model and the price was the same. While over at the American Auto Dealership every car had a different price. That is how they could list a car for a price to bring you in only to find that price was for a specific car (specific lot number) which never seem to exist, "The old bait and switch." Well Japanese were kicked Detroit's asses. American buyers wanted cars that were fully loaded without the price gouging of the American Dealerships for air conditioning or power steering, or a heater, or defroster. You could still buy a used car in Minnesota that was ordered new in Florida without either a heater or defroster, yet have air conditioning. Who knew? But the GOP meme that the Unions were to blame for the failing car sales was just to easy to sell to the American public. rss@dailykos.com (Ronald England) Auto Industry AutoIndustry Congress Executives GOP Greed Union _1231113 Wed, 14 Aug 2013 13:19:02 +0000 COP DRAMAS https://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/7/30/1227797/-COP-DRAMAS <div class="dkimg-c"><img src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/dk-production/images/42526/large/chain_gang.png?1375220947" alt="" /></div> thomasjasengardner                Tuesday, July 30, 2013 COP DRAMAS There has been a big hoopla about the racism of police, employers, hospitals, and politicians in American society. Conversations about institutional racism have reflected upon the role of families that encourage discrimination and communities that support segregation.  What is missing is a discussion about the fictional role of blacks in prime-time television storylines.  Whether its reality shows, news, sitcoms or police dramas, television gives people a window to a world that they can only imagine. Such is the case, the prime culprit and instigator of new American racism is television. With fact and fiction, corporate television disseminates information to millions of Americans. Unfortunately, with erroneous knowledge, the media cast blacks as a typical criminal protagonist. TV executives have created a mythical pattern of criminality that is being articulated within society’s preconceptions about race, class, and gender. News and entertainment media are fashioned so that images of black males are the first and most disproportionate examples of criminals, drug addicts, and homelessness. Another study illustrations how an audience, wrongly links the overrepresentation of fictional TV black criminals, with the safe reality of their personal lives. When whites purposely misidentify a black man as a criminal suspect it illustrates that existing attitudes and beliefs about race are hazardous to our judicial system. Research confirms that when jurors view video footage of a guilty black man, they will transfer their harsh recommendations to a black man who is innocent of a similar crime. Prime time television makes racism palpable to Americans through its seductive videos. Still, like the Internet, you cannot believe everything you see on TV. But like social media, the social effects of racial bias in television negatively influences and disturbingly reinforces irrational racist behavior. Television conglomerates have a FCC license to teach stereotypical attitudes and misconceptions about people which viewers ignorantly accept as truth.  Even on mute, television perpetuates racism with an actor’s negative predisposition towards blacks represented in body language and facial expression. Even on the news, blacks are shown as shufflin, shiny-faced, head-scratchin' simpletons with bugged out eyes who don’t work and who speaks bad English. Yes, the role of black nannie mammies and slovenly black males was prominent during the birth of television’s early days.  Greasy black-faced white actors did not bode well on the black and white television screen. Blacks were better adapted to encoding black gestures or looks or postures that pigeonholed them as an inferior race, incapable of being civilized. How many of us remember the empathy for the inept but lovable black matriarch of the Beulah television show. Then you must also remember the comic antics of black butler Rochester on the Jack Benny Show.. Even when he saves the day, he does it by his natural incompetence, so his heroism is a sidekick joke, and what makes it more acceptable is he does it in the service of his white boss. Ah, the white mans burden. These shows have very much in common with Differ’nt Stokes and Good Times. They have a central role in perpetuating the centuries old myths framed by white racists. Media stereotypes of blacks as lazy, stupid, foolish, cowardly, submissive, irresponsible, childish, violent, sub-human, and animal-like, were rampant in TV programs. These programs condone pervasive racism in American culture. Jim Crow has been reproduced and sustained in the mass media. These shows also give credence to whites that refuse to assimilate with a culture that they learned about from fictional TV. But the caricature of those earlier black roles changed anew during the proceeding decades of cop shows. The resurgence of racist behavior and right wing political thought has its roots in TV programming. Television has reinforced the old bigoted notions of contemptible racism from reality shows and fictional cop shows. Black suspects on television are commonly over-represented as criminals in relation to actual arrest rates.  The programs narratives are booby trapped with stereotyped images of bad black men. On the opposite side of the pendulum, television’s white criminals are arrested less then the actual rates proven in federal statistics. Most Americans watch as much as 4 hours of TV or more a day. Seven and a half instances of physical violence per one hour of television entertainment altars a real life perception of people. Only one percent of Americans actually experience crime and only 20 percent of that one percent is actually violent crime. But television uses dynamic means to attract our attention to ingrained cultural expectations that only highlights black indifferences to American justice. And to perpetrate this falsehood, TV shows over 10 times as much black violent crime as actually reported to authorities. TV viewers believe in a false reality consistent with that found on television cop shows.  This steady stream of intense, violent, and threatening narratives creates an artificially heightened sense of danger. A heavy exposure to any cop drama indoctrinates viewers to believe that they are likely to be a crime victim of a black criminal anywhere at anytime. Mistaken memories derived from television have created a black perpetrator even when the criminal is white according to social scientists. When in reality white victimization is more likely to be from a white criminals fraud and investment scam or a violent white criminal in their community. Hence, there is more white-collar crime that is underreported by the mass media because insider trading lacks the excitement of a lynch mob. During that era and beyond, television executives learned that viewers paid more attention to murder and mayhem then light hearted comedy or informative documentaries. Yes it is true that some viewers were more likely to watch a program that satisfies their paranoid images of lawless blacks stalking unsuspecting whites. Yet, let us not forget those young children who are indoctrinated early by televisions falsehoods of black men. Besides carrying such unsubstantiated fears into adulthood, they too have learned from television about the potentially threatening and violent black man from televisions misdiagnoses of facts. These false images became intangible with the true images of black people. Of course there were the shows of dysfunctional black families whose comic relief was to maintain a racist ideology. Without considering that blacks spent $1 trillion on commercial merchandise, TV surveys show that pacifying racist southern viewers with segregated programs was a in-house corporate goal. Ultimately it was meant to insure TV executives that a lucrative income from television advertising that represented southern viewers. Even today, to maintain and encourage more viewers, television shifted the image of the docile and trusted black servant to an incorrigible black criminal. Both lifestyles reflected white societies images of black Americans. However, the imagery of television turned the black man into a believable threat with a uncontrollable urge for brutality, thievery and other unscrupulous behavior. Such behavior that is real or imagined produces a fight or flight response where adrenaline is priming, heart rates are elevated and blood pressure is increased. Like all animals with an instinct for survival we want to learn from the fictional program what to be cautious of. Lo and behold, it’s who my grandmother told me it was. Television made the false hypocrisy of equality easier to believe. The most damaging of prime-time broadcast television shows were the endless police detective and judicial displays of blacks as the worst and sometimes only criminal antagonist in America. Inciting fear of crime was a mainstay and still is a mainstay of broadcast television programing. TJ Hooker, The Streets of San Francisco, and Dragnet represented cop shows where 60-90 percent of the perpetrators were black. Shows like the F.B.I., N.Y.P.D. Blue and Adam-12 tend to implicate all black men as purveyors of violent crime. Despite department of justice statistics that show the contrary, white television viewers believe that blacks are the repositories for Americans fear of crime. Barnaby Jones, Cagney and Lacy, CHiPS and Hunter showed White television viewers who have become entrapped by these fictional representations of racism mistakenly identify blacks as perpetrators of crime. Ironside, Kojak, Nash Bridges, and Starsky and Hutch had degrading stereotypes that reinforced and enhanced the negative portrayal of blacks in the media. These negative racist stereotypes of thoughts and beliefs are the principals used when white people are presented with a real crime situation or are asked to judge a criminal event. Instead of showing the use of reason and the rule of law, When African American defendants were in court, their trials were overwhelmingly compared to TV cop episodes instead of documented facts. Even if the black characters matched a viewers values and beliefs in terms of attractiveness, sociability, kindness and intelligence, white viewers still elicit negative responses to a black character. Is that why New York City television situation comedies featured no blacks?  Did the producers and stars on Seinfeld, Friends, and Sex and the City realize that people with a racial bias gravitate towards shows that pander to their beliefs? Social experiments prove to researchers that shows with an all-white cast are considered more profitable. The invisibility of black actors interacting with white actors in white environments has to be condoned by white corporations that advertise on these shows. Yesteryear, when the black Nat King Cole show featured a mixed couple dancing, advertisers pulled their commercials. Today, when a Cheerio’s cereal commercial shows a mixed couple, the shows producers pulled the commercial. They claimed that the few racists it offended justified ending further exposure. Neither TV executives nor advertisers consider the wider audience of all Americans when considering profit revenue. How can media advertisers of these whites only programs deny the presence of blacks in regions with large black populations? Integration would strip the show of its systematic homogeneous representation of American and restrict worldwide distribution. Potentially threatening and violent images of black men are invalid images that taint the quality of our cultural perceptions. Stereotypes convey ideological messages of racist clichés that are laden with ritual and myth. That blacks lack the optimism to empower him or her with success because they are incapable of growth, change, innovation or transformation.   rss@dailykos.com (thomasjasen) ABC Advertisers bigoted BlackMen Blacks Broadcast Cable TV CableTV CBS Cheerios copdramas Discrimination Dragnet Executives friends Internet Kojak Media Memories NashBridges NBC Police raistcliches Segregation SexandtheCity TheF.B.I TJHooker TVprimetime White _1227797 Tue, 30 Jul 2013 21:49:55 +0000 Forbes: "Why (Some) Psychopaths Make Great CEOs" https://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/2/27/1190266/-Are-Psychopaths-Good-for-Business-Society My last post discussed how corporations treat their employees like business "resources".  That led to mentions in the comments of whether some businesspeople were psychopaths.  Which in turn led me to delve a bit further into that question.  Among other articles, I ran across an item at the Forbes magazine website entitled, <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffbercovici/2011/06/14/why-some-psychopaths-make-great-ceos/">"Why (Some) Psychopaths Make Great CEOs"</a> (Maybe it should have been subtitled, "You don't have to be crazy to be a CEO, but it helps" ?) The article describes psychopaths as "dangerous predators who lack the behavioral controls and tender feelings the rest of us take for granted".  It also notes that research on psychopathy finds that the percentage of corporate managers who are psychopaths is 4 times as great as for the population in general. Jon Ronson, the author of "The Psychopath Test" is interviewed.  He says, <blockquote>"these people [ie. psychopaths] are different than human beings. They lack the things that make you human: empathy, remorse, loving kindness.</blockquote> Ronson says of a CEO known for downsizing, <blockquote>There was his reputation that he was a man who seemed to enjoy firing people, not to mention the stories from his first marriage — telling his first wife he wanted to know what human flesh tastes like, not going to his parents’ funerals. Then you realize that because of this dysfunctional capitalistic society we live in those things were positives. He was hailed and given high-powered jobs, and the more ruthlessly his administration behaved, the more his share price shot up.</blockquote> and goes on to say, <blockquote>I think my book offers really good evidence that the way that capitalism is structured really is a physical manifestation of the brain anomaly known as psychopathy. However, I woudn’t say every Fortune 500 chief is a psychopath. That would turn me into an ideologue and I abhor ideologues.</blockquote> In case this unflattering talk about capitalism makes you feel uncomfortable or skeptical, let me remind you this is an article in Forbes magazine (which has dubbed itself "The Capitalist Tool".)  The writer/interviewer is a staff writer for the magazine - and the article is not an attempt to dispute the author's conclusions.  The Psychopath Test is a respected work (see the positive intro in this Forbes article). The interviewer asks, "So maybe there’s a sweet spot? A point on the spectrum somewhere short of full-blown psychopathy that’s most conducive to success in business."  Ronson replies, "That’s possible. Obviously there are items on the [psychopath] checklist you don’t want to have if you’re a boss. ... But you do want lack of empathy, lack of remorse, glibness, superficial charm, manipulativeness." So, Forbes wants to know just what the optimal variant of almost-psychopathy is???  And doesn't seem so worried about the ones who are fully psychopathic.  The people who pick CEO's only care whether a candidate meets or approaches the description "dangerous predators who lack the behavioral controls and tender feelings the rest of us take for granted" if it can't be used to increase profits.  Perhaps, there should be a psychiatric diagnosis for those who would use dangerous people to achieve selfish goals in a manner that shows disregard for others. Ronson warns about jumping to conclusions that a person in power must have gotten there as a result of ruthless sociopathic actions.  That's true, but we also have plenty of reason to believe ruthlessness has a long history in business.  And we know scientists tell us a significant number of them are psychopaths, and presumably many more nearly meet the criteria.  We have good cause to want to evaluate whether a person is a psychopath or near-psychopath before they become a top executive.  It could be beneficial if we could check potential executives and legally prohibit those who met a standard of psychopathy from running a corporation. Of course, psychopaths are exactly the kind of people you can't ask to take a test and have them give honest answers which would let you know whether a person was a psychopath.  [Which makes me wonder whether the official estimates of how many executives are psychopaths might be low.]  Nevertheless, this is an issue which must be addressed.  Today, businesses are central elements of the economy.  The economy is how we create and distribute our food, housing, heat, transportation, sources of information, entertainment, etc.  Our standard of living and the foundations of modern civilization depend on the economy.  The economic instability caused by ruthless business has to be dealt with.  Businesses acting as organizational psychopaths or under the guidance of psychopathic CEO's leads our society in directions we may not choose to go otherwise.  Disasters from climate change and other threats are at least in part a result of this. (Actually, psychopathy appears to be a physical brain defect.  A brain lobe doesn't respond to emotional cues.  So, perhaps, candidates for executive positions could be given a medical test which was not subject to a psychopath's deceit and trickery.) Below are links to other articles on the subject. Daily Kos article: <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/08/30/1125522/-Yes-They-Really-are-Corporate-Psychopaths">Yes, They Really are Corporate Psychopaths</a> Bloomberg news website article <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-01-03/did-psychopaths-take-over-wall-street-asylum-commentary-by-william-cohan.html">"Did Psychopaths Take Over Wall Street Asylum?"</a> <a href="http://hbr.org/2004/10/executive-psychopaths/ar/1">Harvard Business Review article</a> "Executive Psychopaths". (This link only gives a part of the article for free, the full article is sold.) <a href="http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/the-stack-the-psychopath-test-by-jon-ronson-07212011.html">Businessweek article</a> on Ronson's book The Psychopath Test <a href="http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/our-humanity-naturally/201103/why-corporations-are-psychotic">Psychology Today blog article</a> on whether corporations - as organizations - behave like psychopaths rss@dailykos.com (workingwords) businesslogic Corporations Economy Executives Psychopaths _1190266 Wed, 27 Feb 2013 20:12:12 +0000 Is the 1% Above the Law? https://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/1/10/1177938/-Is-the-1-Above-the-Law There's a real double standard in legal action against bad behavior by members of the 99% compared to the 1%. Executives A relatively small number of banks and Wall Street firms inflicted harm to the world economy on a scale that the most diabolical of terrorists could only dream of.  And if someone questions the astronomical pay and benefits the executives at those corporations get, he is likely to be told such huge pay insures those executives are the cream of the crop (!) - and they have ultimate responsibility for their company.  Which means it's very reasonable to hold them to blame for the devastation the rest of us are still suffering through years later. Yet, the government has done little or nothing. Across the country, people with teaching degrees from respected colleges are forbidden to work in their profession without a government license.  This is true of many professions.  At least in some states, even a manicurist is required by law to be licensed.  Regardless of occupation, people are required to be licensed to drive a car, because cars can be dangerous.  Clearly, "driving" a corporation can be extremely dangerous as well. And yet, there has been no talk about the executives who caused this crisis losing professional licenses.  I assume this is because executives are not currently required to have a license.  If they aren't, why not?  Surely, executives can cause enough harm.  If executives are already required to have licenses, why don't we hear about any losing them? Not only do they receive obscenely high incomes, but they are not expected to be subject to the same rules that apply to teachers and manicurists.  It's time that our government licensed executives and made clear to them that next time they cause society serious harm they'll have to go out and get a real job that pays the salary of a teacher or manicurist. Opponents will say licenses are unnecessary because corporations will make sure their executives meet high standards.  The world economic crisis proves otherwise. Traditionally, licensing of professionals is done by state governments.  There are good reasons for the federal government to license executives of large corporations.  They operate in a large number of states.  These multinational corporations are capable of having a serious impact on our relations with other nations.  When they cause disaster, the federal government has to take care of the mess.  Fixing problems corporate executives cause is the responsibility of the federal government, so it should have the right to protect us from dangerous executives. Even if the US Constitution does not currently permit the federal government to do professional licensing, the government could still act.  State governments could still license executives.  And there are ways the federal government could ensure safety from dangerous executives.  Perhaps, the federal government could make the level of federal aid to states dependent on whether a state licenses executives according to rules specified by the federal government.  The federal government could forbid companies from being federal contractors if their executives did not have an appropriate state license.  Perhaps, the Federal Reserve could charge higher rates to corporations whose executives didn't meet standards.  The federal government could make changes to the corporate tax laws – doubling the corporate tax and giving tax breaks to those corporations that met standards for their executives (so the complying corporations continued to pay what they paid prior to the changes).  Where there's a will, there's a way. Our elected officials treat executives like a special class of citizens who are exempt from the rules that apply to working people. Reckless Corporate Irresponsibility Corporations caused the economic crisis.  Millions of people have lost their jobs (and so, many have lost medical coverage), huge numbers have lost their homes, millions have lost savings for college or retirement, federal and state and local governments are suffering from lost revenue, people who receive state and local government services are suffering from cut programs, and so on.  Perhaps, nobody has died directly from this, but there can be little doubt that many deaths have indirectly resulted.  There have been cuts in police, fire departments, ambulances and hospitals.  People have been put under extraordinary stresses, making them more subject to medical or psychiatric issues. I'm not claiming corporate executives said, "I'm going to make incredibly stupid business decisions in order to cause people around the country to suffer and to see how many will indirectly die as a result."  But that's not crucial.  At least many jurisdictions have laws criminalizing "involuntary manslaughter".  Here's an example: A man parks his car on a hill.  When he gets out of the car, he doesn't put on the emergency brake.  While he's away, the car rolls down the hill and runs over a pedestrian.  The car owner meant no harm, but he acted irresponsibly with horrible consequences.  The law says he should be penalized. Not all of today's laws against dangerously irresponsible behavior have to require someone to actually die or be injured.  A driver can be stopped at a routine checkpoint – he need not have caused an accident nor have been observed driving poorly - and if his blood alcohol is above a certain level be subject to legal penalties.  There are other laws that do not require use of alcohol or drugs which criminalise "reckless endangerment". Our legal system does not hesitate to prosecute working people for poor judgment which puts others at risk - even if none are harmed.  Corporations that hurt millions of individuals and our very governments are not being prosecuted. If there are already laws worded in such a way they could define as crimes the kind of reckless corporate actions that caused the economic crisis, why haven't they been prosecuted?  If existing laws are not now worded properly to cover those acts, it is time the government made laws worded in a way so such acts are subject to prosecution. The law need not say that every executive decision that doesn't turn out as hoped is a crime.  Drivers are allowed to have a certain amount of alcohol in their blood.  The driver is only guilty of a crime if his blood alcohol is above a safe level.  Similarly, corporate actions could have to be reckless to be treated as a crime.  Today, reckless irresponsibility is a crime for the average person, but not for executives and corporations.  This has proven to be a disastrous double standard by our government. rss@dailykos.com (workingwords) Corporations DoubleStandard Executives Fairness Law _1177938 Thu, 10 Jan 2013 20:34:19 +0000 Corporate Life In The Rearview Mirror: VPs Behaving Badly https://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/11/29/1165657/-Corporate-Life-In-The-Rearview-Mirror-VPs-Behaving-Badly Another thing I won't miss now that corporate America has tossed me onto the scrap-heap: executives behaving badly. Let's give these folks the benefit of the doubt and assume that they started out like the rest of us, rather than being spawned in a cauldron of pure evil. Somewhere along the line, they got the sense that the rules of personal and professional integrity were just guidelines, and that those guidelines were intended for lesser people... people like the employees who - without constant monitoring - would surely take down the entire company with their evil doings. As one of my professors used to say:         <blockquote>"Rules are for the obedience of fools and the guidance of wise men."</blockquote> Based on their malfeasance, some of our VPs appear to have been very, very wise men indeed. If awards were given for Most Egregious Behavior, we'd need to break it down by category. Financial Shenanigans When a company rewards VP performance based solely on numbers, you'd better watch how - not just whether - those numbers are attained. If a VP's bonus - which can be on the order of half their annual salary or more - depends on meeting some financial metrics, the game is on. Whatever it takes: recognizing revenue before it hits the books; moving orders between financial quarters, pressuring staff to falsify time cards, stiffing vendors to boost profits, or burying profit-draining bad news, financial shenanigans are so commonplace that they're hardly even noteworthy in some organizations. Outstanding performance in this category goes to those VPs who can sustain this sort of malfeasance quarter after quarter without detection... or without consequence, anyway. Insider Information Abuse VPs get to find out some very useful things in the course of their work, and some can't resist using that information to advance themselves within and beyond their organization. While garden variety insider trading hardly raises an eyebrow anymore, those who excel in this category will use their wiles to fix bids, collude with competitors, put the screws to teaming partners, propogate rumors in the marketplace, and position themselves to emerge as a winner no matter the carnage they leave in their wake. Hidden Factories In any corporation, things go wrong; and customers wind up with a bad product or bad service experience. While a forthright manager would rectify the problem (including informing the customer and working with them to fix the problem) and ensure that the lessons learned were disseminated to prevent repeat problems, some VPs will go to any length to cover up both the problem and the fix. This includes intimidating the workers to put in extra hours - undocumented and unpaid - to redo the work (if papering over the problem won't fool the customer). Workplace Intimidation Bullying takes many forms, and VPs who excel in this category know just how far they can push people without HR or the workers (or their attorneys) can do a damn thing about it. While some VPs are known as tyrants, terrorizing everyone in their drainage basin, the winners here are those who "manage up", convincing the executives that they're effective people managers, while "intimidating down" and keeping the workers in a perpetual state of dread. Passive-aggressive VPs have a real edge here, but others can be strong contenders. In a tough economy, workers will endure a great deal just to hold onto a job, even if their life at work is a living hell. VPs who can exploit this sad truth can do very, very well. Sexual Faux Pas Winners in this category have rejected the blatant Herman Cain-like groping or quid-pro-quo offers and used their power to have their way with subordinates and convince the world that its a consensual relationship. A relationship to which the VP is entitled because of their status in the organization... and the subordinate's entrapment in a job that they really need for the pay and benefits. While truly consensual relationships occur in many organizations, it's never in good tast to flaunt them, or to use them for professional leverage. Some of our contenders have elevated their dalliances to an art form, surprising in this electronic age when their every text message could later be discoverable. Expense Extravagance Corporate travel is exhausting, and those with VP status can enjoy the comfort and splendor that the little people can only dream about. They can order that $200 bottle of wine for a dinner with a client. They can stay in the lavish suite at the posh hotel, while their employees grovel to the accounting department for reimbursement of their stay at the Red Roof Inn. VPs needn't worry about all those pesky customer ethics policies that forbid them to accept gifts or meals. They also know that foreign travel offers plenty of chances to throw money around to advance their agenda. They're not off by the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act; they just leave all that for the accounting and legal folks to sort out. When in doubt, spend. It's all reimbursable; it's all good. Abuse of Trust Sometimes, VPs forget that there are boundaries at work, and that those boundaries are there for a reason. When the boss insists that you go skiing with them for the weekend or buys you a ticket to a NASCAR event, with the intent that you'll drive them there and back so they can drink like a fish. When the boss asks you to pick up fireworks and drive them [illegally] across state lines for their family party. When the boss has you running errands while you should be working on company business. While these breaches of workplace trust might seem inconsequential, they arise from the idea that with a VP title comes VP entitlement. In my 37 years in corporate America, I've witnessed every one of the bad behaviors listed above, and many, many more. Most have gone unpunished, many even unremarked. It's just the way that it is. Meanwhile you, dear employee, should log out of Daily Kos right this minute and go fill out your annual integrity and ethics certification. You might be exposing your employer to all sorts of risks with your bad behavior. We can't have that. rss@dailykos.com (cassandracarolina) accounting Business Corporations Executives Finance SexualHarassment workplaceintimidation _1165657 Thu, 29 Nov 2012 15:57:13 +0000 Corporate Life In The Rearview Mirror: Financial Shenanigans https://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/10/2/1138750/-Corporate-Life-In-The-Rearview-Mirror-Financial-Shenanigans From the <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390444138104578030353195160818.html">Wall Street Journal</a> comes this revelation: <blockquote>If you believe a recent academic study, one out of five U.S. finance chiefs have been scrambling to fiddle with their companies' earnings.</blockquote> Yes, the surprise here is that it's only one out of five. <blockquote>According to academic experts, many CFOs use clever, and legal, exploitations of accounting standards that "manage earnings to misrepresent economic performance." Duke Professor John Graham and WSJ's Francesco Guerrera discuss on The News Hub. The sources of this revelation are none other than the CFOs themselves. Last year, the academics asked 169 finance chiefs of public firms what percentage of companies, in their experience, use accounting ruses to report earnings that don't fully reflect the companies' underlying operations. (Note the indirect nature of the question to avoid self-incrimination.) The answer: around 20%. </blockquote> In my 37 years in corporate America, I saw plenty of evidence of this phenomenon. When all other corporate missions (like the quaint notion of providing a quality product or service to a client at a fair price) are subordinated to "the numbers", you see otherwise intelligent and ethical people do some very shady things. Wall Street could care less about the quality, price, or sustainability of your offerings. What they want to see is consistency. If "the Street" is expecting your earnings for the quarter to be X, and you come in at 0.9X, you've missed by a mile. How you attained X is not their concern either. You could have moved money out of your rainy day slush fund to make up for a crappy quarter. You could have claimed "restructuring costs" after your shell-game series of acquisitions. Just make sure you come in on target. While the Chief Financial Office (CFO) takes care of some of this "big picture" manipulation of results, what surprised me in my corporate career was the degree to which middle managers and supervisors, and even "regular" employees were drawn into the web of accounting shenanigans. When that kind of thinking pervades an entire company, it's only a matter of time before some people take it to an extreme. When monthly and quarterly financial results are the basis for managers getting their all-important bonus, the pressure on the employees to meet "their" numbers can be daunting. Ironically, as managers crack the whip on the employees, the employees realize their true power in the equation: they can dig in their heels and prevent their boss from getting that bonus. Sure, it might be a career-limiting move, but in a dysfunctional organization, this kind of passive-aggressive behavior is quite prevalent. Employees, resentful over having to work longer hours without compensation, or having to live under the constant threat of layoffs, or being pressured to do something ethically dubious, have plenty of reasons to thwart their [already overpaid] manager's bonus quest. One way to affect the numbers at the local office or department level is in the recognition of revenue. In a difficult quarter, there's a great temptation to claim revenue that really belongs in the next quarter. Sure, the client hasn't signed that contract yet, but maybe (wink, wink...) we can still count it as "booked". In a good quarter - one where the numbers were exceeded - there's pressure to defer some revenue to the start of the next quarter. Never mind that all staff are repeatedly required to "recertify" their compliance with the company's Ethics and Integrity Program. I worked in an office where the manager was a master at this sort of revenue sleight of hand. He was always held up by our executive team as a fiscal savant. "Why can't the rest of you folks turn in this kind of performance?", they asked. He not only got his bonus, he was further rewarded for his great leadership. You clever Kossacks know what happened next, I bet. Yep. Like burned popcorn in the break room, the aroma of cooked books was too strong to ignore. The one-time poster boy for awesome office performance was terminated, auditors pored over the carnage, and everyone in the office wondered how this obvious manipulation had gone unpunished for so long. When you live by the numbers, it shows. All decisions are subordinated to the effect on the numbers. Employees quickly realize that they're expendable (as I was). They're just cells on a manager's spreadsheet. Clients see staff turnover increasing, service eroding, and costs escalating. Managers, no longer interested in developing or mentoring their staff, focus on the numbers, doing everything they can to make "their" number and get their bonus. "Long-term" planning is abandoned in favor of this quarter's numbers. Next fiscal year, they promise, we'll focus on the employees. Right now, though, we just gotta get through this quarter. rss@dailykos.com (cassandracarolina) accounting Business Corporations Executives Finance Wall Street WallStreet _1138750 Tue, 02 Oct 2012 13:48:46 +0000 PA Must Reads: Compare and Contrast: Executives and Teachers https://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/1/26/1058681/-PA-Must-Reads-Compare-and-Contrast-Executives-and-Teachers A blog post by Mark Price, originally published at <a href="http://thirdandstate.org/2012/january/morning-must-reads-compare-and-contrast-executives-and-teachers">Third and State</a>. The New York Times this morning has yet another story that is sure to dominate public conversation over the next week or so. Read it or else! <ul> <li>Charles Duhigg and David Barboza, The New York Times — <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/26/business/ieconomy-apples-ipad-and-the-human-costs-for-workers-in-china.html?hp=&pagewanted=all" target="_blank">In China, Human Costs Are Built Into an iPad</a>:</li> </ul> <blockquote> In the last decade, Apple has become one of the mightiest, richest and most successful companies in the world, in part by mastering global manufacturing. Apple and its high-technology peers — as well as dozens of other American industries — have achieved a pace of innovation nearly unmatched in modern history. However, the workers assembling iPhones, iPads and other devices often labor in harsh conditions, according to employees inside those plants, worker advocates and documents published by companies themselves. Problems are as varied as onerous work environments and serious — sometimes deadly — safety problems. Employees work excessive overtime, in some cases seven days a week, and live in crowded dorms. Some say they stand so long that their legs swell until they can hardly walk. Under-age workers have helped build Apple’s products, and the company’s suppliers have improperly disposed of hazardous waste and falsified records, according to company reports and advocacy groups that, within China, are often considered reliable, independent monitors. “You can either manufacture in comfortable, worker-friendly factories, or you can reinvent the product every year, and make it better and faster and cheaper, which requires factories that seem harsh by American standards,” said a current Apple executive. </blockquote> Wow. It is remarkable that a company famous for "thinking differently" has executives that assume the only way to build things faster and cheaper is to have harsh working conditions. As a counterweight to the amoral view of certain high paid Apple executives, Sara Ferguson of the Chester Upland School District reminds us of the good in humanity. <ul> <li>Sara Ferguson, Huffington Post — <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sara-ferguson/sara-ferguson-teacher-state-of-the-union_b_1230362.html" target="_blank">I Represented All Teachers</a>:</li> </ul> <blockquote> That commitment to quality public schools is even more important during these tough and uncertain economic times. My school district, Chester Upland School District in Pennsylvania, has long had financial troubles. More than 70 percent of our students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunches. That's more than double the state average. Now, the district is in outright financial crisis. The situation is so bad that in early January we were told that there wouldn't be enough money to pay us. We were all incredibly anxious and upset. I'm a third generation teacher, and to be told I might not be able to continue teaching my students was horrifying. We all have families to take care of, mortgages and bills to pay. But our union leaders brought us together, and 204 teachers and 64 support staff decided unequivocally to keep working as long we were able to make ends meet. Our students had no contingency plan. They needed to be educated, so we intended to be on the job. </blockquote> rss@dailykos.com (ThirdandState) Apple Economy Education Executives IncomeInequality New York Times NewYorkTimes Pennsylvania Teachers _1058681 Thu, 26 Jan 2012 15:07:25 +0000 Trimming Astroturf From the American Petroleum Institute's 'Vote 4 Energy' Ad https://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/1/10/1053337/-Trimming-Astroturf-From-the-American-Petroleum-Institute-s-Vote-4-Energy-Ad It's not surprising that the American Petroleum Institute -- Big Oil's premium lobbying entity -- is using a synthetic media strategy. Their Vote 4 Energy astroturf campaign spews misinformation like a two-stroke engine belching greenhouse gasses. It attempts to portray 'real (cough cough) Americans' who are 'energy voters,' which translates to voting for whichever politicians support Big Oil's dirty agenda. API also bought the back page of the A section of the Washington Post with a Vote4Energy ad that costs hundreds of thousands of dollars. That's about as genuine as a gas-station burrito. rss@dailykos.com (Phil Radford II Greenpeace) AmericanPetroleumInstitute Astroturf Big Oil BigOil BP Chevron Commercial Executives ExxonMobil GreenNews greenpeace JackGerard Keystone XL pipeline KeystoneXL Shell Tar Sands TarSands Vote4Energy _1053337 Tue, 10 Jan 2012 16:01:16 +0000 Morning Must Reads: Bailouts for the Banks and Cake for the 99% https://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/10/17/1027243/-Morning-Must-Reads-Bailouts-for-the-Banks-and-Cake-for-the-99 A blog post by <a href="http://thirdandstate.org/blogger/mark-price" target="_blank">Mark Price</a>, originally published at <a href="http://thirdandstate.org/2011/october/morning-must-reads-bailouts-banks-and-cake-99" target="_blank">Third and State</a>. What is good for the financial sector is good for the 99% 1%. <ul> <li>Paul Krugman, The New York Times — <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/17/opinion/krugman-wall-street-loses-its-immunity.html?_r=1&hp" target="_blank">Losing Their Immunity</a>:</li> </ul> <blockquote> For the financialization of America wasn’t dictated by the invisible hand of the market. What caused the financial industry to grow much faster than the rest of the economy starting around 1980 was a series of deliberate policy choices, in particular a process of deregulation that continued right up to the eve of the 2008 crisis. Not coincidentally, the era of an ever-growing financial industry was also an era of ever-growing inequality of income and wealth. Wall Street made a large direct contribution to economic polarization, because soaring incomes in finance accounted for a significant fraction of the rising share of the top 1 percent (and the top 0.1 percent, which accounts for most of the top 1 percent’s gains) in the nation’s income. More broadly, the same political forces that promoted financial deregulation fostered overall inequality in a variety of ways, undermining organized labor, doing away with the 'outrage constraint' that used to limit executive paychecks, and more. </blockquote> The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reviews employment law in Pennsylvania and notes that there are two sets of rules, the rules for the rest of us (we are employed at will and rarely get a severance) and the rules for top executives. <ul> <li>Erich Schwartzel, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette — <a href="http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11290/1182186-499.stm" target="_blank">Workers can be fired for any reason or no reason —</a><a href="http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11290/1182186-499.stm" target="_blank">not an illegal reason</a>:</li> </ul> <blockquote> A severance package is typically offered to executives in exchange for a promise not to sue over anything that happened during the time of employment. Of course, the severance package has a much-maligned cousin in the 'golden parachute,' which can send fat-cat executives on their way with multi-million-dollar paydays and the ill will of the masses. Earlier this month, Bank of America Corp. announced it would send wealth-management division head Sallie Krawcheck off with $6 million. And when Hewlett-Packard CEO Mark Hurd resigned after allegations he had an inappropriate affair with a contractor, the news that he'd leave with millions wasn't exactly a public relations coup. </blockquote> Speaking of top executives, Nancy Folbre, after walking us through what we know about the rise in inequality, spots a curious new consumer product, let's just call it the Louis Vuitton of commodes. <ul> <li>Nancy Folbre - Economix — <a href="http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/10/17/storming-the-capitalist-castle/?src=tp" target="_blank">Storming the Capitalist Castle</a>:</li> </ul> <blockquote> Another, more discursive poster described the ideals of the 'solidarity economy,' starting with: 'I don’t have a boss. I’m a worker-owner in a cooperative business,' and ending with, 'I joined a credit union so my money stays in the community.' What seems to be emerging is what the historian Gar Alperowitz described as a process of 'evolutionary reconstruction.' It might start by making capitalism more distinct from feudalism. This idea came to me while reading about a great new product that just hit the market: a $6,400 toilet with its own remote control for water spray and drying fan. Marie Antoinette would have loved it for Versailles. </blockquote> Who would pay $6,400 for a toilet with a remote control, you ask? Before it was the bankers turn to wreck the economy, you might remember there were some scandals at companies like Enron, Arthur Andersen and Tyco International. Here is a story from 2002.  <ul> <li>Annelena Lobb, CNN Money — <a href="http://money.cnn.com/2002/09/23/pf/saving/q_tyco/" target="_blank">Shop like Dennis K.</a>:</li> </ul> <blockquote> You might wonder how former Tyco CEO Dennis Kozlowski could have spent thousands of dollars on stuff most of us could get at Bed, Bath & Beyond for, at most, a few hundred. Interior designers to the rich and famous say it's easy. But really, it's in awfully bad taste. An SEC filing last week from Tyco alleges that Kozlowski spent company funds on unauthorized purchases including $15,000 for a dog-shaped umbrella stand, $6,300 for a sewing basket, $17,000 for a traveling toilette box, $2,200 for a gold-plated wastebasket, $2,900 on coat hangers, $1,650 for an appointment book, $5,900 for sheets, $445 for a pincushion, and $6,000 on a shower curtain. </blockquote> Speaking of Marie Antoinette, let me introduce you to her long lost German cousin Andreas Schmitz. <ul> <li>Shannon Bond, The Financial Times — <a href="http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/052226f8-f80c-11e0-a419-00144feab49a.html#axzz1b2KRpmgb" target="_blank">Obama extends support for protesters (paywall)</a>:</li> </ul> <blockquote> But some bankers and others in the protesters’ sights sought to spread the blame. Andreas Schmitz, head of the German banking federation and chief executive of HSBC Trinkaus, told the Financial Times on Sunday that protests against banks were 'a diversion from the fundamental problem: that we can no longer finance our welfare states.' </blockquote> One of the factors that is widely thought to have hurt job growth around the world in the past few months is the continued instability in financial markets from the sovereign debt crisis in Europe. Andreas Schmitz fails to note that it was German and French banks that made what turned out to be really bad loans to the Greek government. Those same banks are about to get a big bailout. Socialism for you bad, socialism for the banks good. There is an upside to all of this, we all are probably gonna get some cake! rss@dailykos.com (ThirdandState) Banks corporateexcesses Economy Executives Financial Crisis financialcrisis Income IncomeInequality Pennsylvania Wages _1027243 Mon, 17 Oct 2011 13:58:35 +0000 Ahhh, the 1% of BofA and Occupy Charlotte https://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/10/8/1024133/-Ahhh-the-1-of-BofA-and-Occupy-Charlotte Well last night was friday, I knew that watching the News Dump on the local news as the parents, kids and others were getting ready for the friday night football games. The Bank of America 1% are alive and well and at least two execs. are now very comfortable, though they were before getting dumped. <center><a href="http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2011/10/07/2673177/bofas-krawcheck-price-to-get-millions.html">BofA's Krawcheck, Price to get millions in severance</a></center> <blockquote>Multimillion payments for 2 include base salary plus at least $4.15M lump sum.</blockquote> Hey and they also get a year of continued coverage of their, I'll bet, extremely great health care coverage, which has to be a perk write off for BofA, corps got so many. rss@dailykos.com (jimstaro) 99 percent ers. 99percenters Bank of America BankofAmerica Community Congress Corporate Greed CorporateGreed Economy Elections Executives jobcreators Labor Occupy Charlotte Occupy Everywhere Occupy Wall Street OccupyCharlotte OccupyEverywhere OccupyWallStreet OWS severancepay the 1% the1percent _1024133 Sat, 08 Oct 2011 11:41:56 +0000 CEO Pay Exceeds Tax Bill at Major Corporations https://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/9/11/1015689/-CEO-Pay-Exceeds-Tax-Bill-at-Major-Corporations At many large American corporations, more money is paid to a single executive than to <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-08-31/ceos-earned-more-than-their-companies-tax-bills-study-finds.html">the U.S. Treasury</a>: <blockquote>Twenty-five of the best-paid chief executive officers in the U.S. earned more in salary and other compensation in 2010 than their companies’ federal income tax expenses as disclosed in public filings, according to a <a href="http://www.ips-dc.org/reports/executive_excess_2011_the_massive_ceo_rewards_for_tax_dodging">report</a> by the <a href="http://www.ips-dc.org">Institute for Policy Studies</a>. The Washington-based nonprofit group’s report, released today, examined 100 publicly traded U.S. corporations with the highest-paid CEOs. It found that companies whose CEOs’ compensation exceeded reported tax expense in 2010 had average global profits of $1.9 billion. Companies in this group, according to the report, included Cablevision Systems Corp., EBay Inc., Verizon Communications Inc. and Boeing Co. In fact, some companies that rewarded their CEOs with seven-figure compensation were getting money back from the government. </blockquote> <a target='_blank' title='ImageShack - Image And Video Hosting' href='http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/98/corporatetaxrate.jpg/'><img src='http://img98.imageshack.us/img98/189/corporatetaxrate.jpg' border='0' /></a> rss@dailykos.com (The Anomaly) boardroom Bonuses CEOpay Corporations Coup Executives tax-dodging unaccountable _1015689 Sun, 11 Sep 2011 22:52:19 +0000 Picket M&I Bank Execs' Homes? https://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/3/12/955628/-Picket-M-I-Bank-Execs-Homes Technically it was NOT M&I Bank per se that donated heavily to WI Gov. Scott Walker -- it was some of M&I's top executives who actually did the donating. After the jump, let's consider how that fact might or should inform some of our direct actions in Wisconsin. rss@dailykos.com (workersuntie) Bankers Banks Donations Executives M&I mansions picket ScottWalker Wisconsin _955628 Sat, 12 Mar 2011 15:52:22 +0000 Metra executive illustrates trend of choosing unfit people to lead American industry https://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/5/15/866658/-Metra-executive-illustrates-trend-of-choosing-unfit-people-to-lead-American-industry First, let me state that I do not wish to add to the grief that I imagine Phil Pagano's family is going through. I wish them all the best. However, as Mr. Pagano is a public figure, and his financial peccadilloes affected everyone who rode or interacted with Metra (basically the public utility for transportation by train from the suburbs to Chicago), his death is not entirely a private matter. I will attempt to describe why I think his suicide shows a great deal of disregard for his responsibilities. Here is an early news story about this event: <a href="http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=news/local&id=7428653">ABC May 7 coverage of Phil Pagano suicide</a> This story contains a surprising amount of detail. I do not know Phil Pagano, and am not claiming to know someone who knew him, or to have any other sort of special insight into his personal and private life. But I am going to speculate on things he should have known, and try to illustrate why I think he is a good example of top executives having important positions acting like immature, selfish children. rss@dailykos.com (Book Lover) Executives Fraud inconsiderate irresponisble Metra PhilPagano PublicServant _866658 Sat, 15 May 2010 10:54:55 +0000 Spill Baby, Spill! NEW BP Commerical https://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/5/13/866158/-Spill-Baby-Spill-NEW-BP-Commerical Can there be any doubt in anyone's mind that BP (British Petroleum) is currently at work on a new ad campaign to try and convince the public that they actually care about the environment and have a conscience about the environmental nightmare they let loose along the Gulf Coast? <a href="http://www.britethorn.com">http://www.britethorn.com</a> rss@dailykos.com (Britethorn) adcampaign Animals Barack Obama BarackObama Birds BP British Petroleum BritishPetroleum clean up cleanup Coast Guard CoastGuard Commercials commercialspoof Congress Earth eKos Emergency Environment Executives Explosion Fish Fishing foolpeople Forest Geese goose Gulf Hearings Kill Lie Lies methanegas Nightmare Ocean Oil Spill oilexecs OilSpill Plankton Propaganda rig Seafood Toxic Trees TVAds Victims Wildlife _866158 Thu, 13 May 2010 18:03:33 +0000 Obama Administration Misunderstands Capitalism https://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/3/11/845159/-Obama-Administration-Misunderstands-Capitalism On Wednesday, Kathleen Sebelius went in to chide the health insurance companies. Or at least that's what she was supposed to do according to the notes they handed the press before the event. Instead she wound up being very polite as usual and just <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/10/kathleen-sebelius-pushes_n_493186.html">pleaded with them to do the right thing</a> and care about their customers. She can't help herself, she's so soft. That's why Obama picked her. It wouldn't have really mattered either way. She could have yelled, screamed, beseeched, begged, groveled, demanded or requested. The answer would have been no different all the same. rss@dailykos.com (Cenk Uygur) Barack Obama BarackObama Capitalism CEOs Corporations Executives InsuranceCompanies KathleenSebelius Machines publiclyheldcorportaions theborg Wall Street WallStreet _845159 Thu, 11 Mar 2010 22:00:03 +0000 Polls...Say What? https://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/11/12/803775/-Polls-Say-What Front Pager Jed Lewiston's Diary today has an interesting report on the popularity of the concept of a massive federal jobs program, even among Republicans in the South, heh. Hey, bubba!  You want a freakin' job? HELL yeah! Sign 'em up, Barak!  Put us ALL to work, PLEASE!!!???  ...Building out the new green paradigm!!! Oh, and about those corporate executives, and their hacks and politicians....you know, the ones who "make" over $250k a year? <a target="_blank" href="http://photobucket.com"><img alt="Photobucket" src="http://i895.photobucket.com/albums/ac155/agitprop/economy/outrageous.gif" border /></a> rss@dailykos.com (Radical def) Corporations Economy Executives incentives JobsProgram Politicians Polls revolutionaryjustice Subsidies _803775 Thu, 12 Nov 2009 19:07:19 +0000 This tells you all you need to know. https://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/9/24/785851/-This-tells-you-all-you-need-to-know Well, about "infotainment" that passes for news these days, anyway, and how we wound up where we're at economically: <blockquote> <a href="http://www.cjr.org/behind_the_news/katie_and_diane_the_wrong_ques.php?page=all">(Howard) Kurtz:</a> "I don’t fully know. Katie Couric may make $15 million a year, but she grew up in a middle-class family in Arlington. Brian Williams was once a volunteer fireman. Dan Rather graduated from Sam Houston State College. And it’s not just the anchors—the opinion guys, O’Reilly, Rush, Olbermann, Matthews and the like, make millions each year. Does that mean their values change, that they’re automatically out of touch? In some cases, perhaps, but I don’t think that’s universally true." </blockquote> rss@dailykos.com (Shadan7) Bonuses CEOpay Congress Executives Inequality News NPR Oversight _785851 Thu, 24 Sep 2009 14:57:32 +0000 President Obama was wrong https://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/9/21/783831/-President-Obama-was-wrong <blockquote>     "Insurance executives don't do this because they're bad people; they do it because it's profitable." President Obama - 9/9/09 </blockquote>      With all due respect, Mister President, I beg to disagree.      Therefore, I submit this as evidence to the fact that Insurance Executives are in fact bad people, very, very bad people. <blockquote> <img alt="Image Hosting by PictureTrail.com" src="http://pic80.picturetrail.com:80/VOL2135/12119137/22387434/374490558.jpg" border /> <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/2009/09/19/pre-existing-conditions/">ThinkProgress.org</a> </blockquote>     As you can see, our 9/11 heroes who ran into the burning flames of the WTC and survived can be denied insurance because of their occupation. An expecting father can be denied health care insurance. He might as well be having the baby himself, in their opinions, and, if that were the case, they would still deny him coverage anyway.     Therefore, I respectfully disagree with what you have said, President Obama. I understand why you said it, after all Insurance Execs are people too. At least, one must assume so. rss@dailykos.com (MinistryOfTruth) Action Activism badpeople Barack Obama BarackObama Executives HealthCareReform Insurance President Recommended timetokickass WTF _783831 Mon, 21 Sep 2009 14:30:43 +0000 To My Town Hall-Protesting Friends: The Death Panels Are Already Here (And Have Been For Awhile) https://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/8/27/773058/-To-My-Town-Hall-Protesting-Friends-The-Death-Panels-Are-Already-Here-And-Have-Been-For-Awhile As the discussion regarding healthcare has risen to a fever pitch (yes I’m being generous by calling it a discussion), the myths, half-truths and, sometimes, outright lies have began to take root. The most pernicious of these lies, in my opinion, is the talk of "death panels" and the killing of the elderly. There has even been talk of federal tax dollars funding abortions, even though the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyde_Amendment">1976 Hyde Amendment</a> strictly prohibits that. For the record, I believe that healthcare reform, in its most robust sense, is a moral imperative. <blockquote> It is my belief that a society and a nation will be judged, ultimately, by its treatment of its most vulnerable citizens --- the least of these. </blockquote> rss@dailykos.com (Dr Rhymes) Bankruptcy BarackObama Bonuses DeathPanels Elderly Executives Healthcare Reform HealthCareReform InsuranceCompanies Morality Poverty President Obama Town Halls TownHalls under-insured Uninsured _773058 Thu, 27 Aug 2009 12:32:00 +0000 To My Town Hall-Protesting Friends: The Death Panels Are Already Here (And Have Been For Awhile) https://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/8/26/772664/-To-My-Town-Hall-Protesting-Friends-The-Death-Panels-Are-Already-Here-And-Have-Been-For-Awhile As the discussion regarding healthcare has risen to a fever pitch (yes I’m being generous by calling it a discussion), the myths, half-truths and, sometimes, outright lies have began to take root. The most pernicious of these lies, in my opinion, is the talk of “death panels” and the killing of the elderly. There has even been talk of federal tax dollars funding abortions, even though the 1976 Hyde Amendment strictly prohibits that. For the record, I believe that healthcare reform, in its most robust sense, is a moral imperative. It is my belief that a society and a nation will be judged, ultimately, by its treatment of its most vulnerable citizens --- the least of these. rss@dailykos.com (Dr Rhymes) Bankruptcy BarackObama Bonuses DeathPanels Elderly Executives Healthcare Reform HealthCareReform InsuranceCompanies Morality Poverty President Obama Town Halls TownHalls under-insured Uninsured _772664 Wed, 26 Aug 2009 17:04:33 +0000 Weekly Audit: Depression-Era Inequality, Only Worse https://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/8/18/768736/-Weekly-Audit-Depression-Era-Inequality-Only-Worse By Zach Carter, TMC MediaWire blogger A new study by Economist Emmanuel Saez revealed this week that income inequality in the U.S. is more severe today than at any time since World War I, and the current recession is taking its heaviest toll on the worst-off members of our society. As our government rebuilds the financial sector using taxpayers' money, it's important to remember that both financiers and the government are responsible to our communities, not just bank shareholders. If we want to strengthen our country's economic foundation, we need to demand better wages for workers and an end to all kinds of predatory lending. rss@dailykos.com (The Media Consortium) CitiGroup CommunityReinvestmentAct CRA Executives GreatDepression Housing Income Inequality Recession Salon Subprime The Real News TheAmericanProspect TheMediaConsortium TheRealNews TMC WashingtonIndependent WashingtonMonthly Wealthy weeklyaudit Wiretap zachcarter _768736 Tue, 18 Aug 2009 15:04:28 +0000 Corporate Greed https://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/3/20/711234/-Corporate-Greed The company I work for is an energy company.  Now that a barrel of oil is hovering around $50 or so, the company has claimed cash flow issues since Jan of 09.  Remember, these are the same energy companies that made billions of dollars of profit in 2008.   It's the friggin' hypocrisy I'm writing about today.  More after the jump... rss@dailykos.com (Vigla) Executives Greed Hypocrisy _711234 Sat, 21 Mar 2009 04:35:55 +0000 Legal Insider Trading at JP Morgan (updated with more research) https://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/3/20/711045/-Legal-Insider-Trading-at-JP-Morgan-updated-with-more-research While trawling Wikileaks I came across this <a href="http://www.wikileaks.com/wiki/Whistleblower_exposes_insider_trading_program_at_JP_Morgan">press release</a>. <blockquote> A confidential memo obtained by Wikileaks shows that not only has the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission created an insider trading loophole big enough to drive a truck through, but that Wall Street is taking full advantage of it, establishing 'how-to' programs and even client service divisions to help well-heeled clients circumvent insider trading regulations. </blockquote> Apparently the SEC has Rule 10b5-1 which was created to clarify what constitutes insider trading. Now, it appears that JP Morgan (and probably other financial firms) has found loopholes that legitimate some forms of insider trading. JP Morgan has established a program through its JP Morgan Private Bank to allow wealthy clients and executives to profit from their inside knowledge in a perfectly legal manner. rss@dailykos.com (Areopagitica) Banks CEOs Executives InsiderTrading JP Morgan JPMorgan _711045 Fri, 20 Mar 2009 19:29:06 +0000 The Corporate Jet Outrage Hurts the Economy For Cheap Political Points https://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/3/19/710704/-The-Corporate-Jet-Outrage-Hurts-the-Economy-For-Cheap-Political-Points I have been a longtime reader and supporter of DailyKos.  This is my first diary here, as I have been waiting for something to come up with that relates to me personally and hasn't been written about 100 times a day.  It appears I've found it.   Just so it is known, I am not a marketing person, or a manager, or anything that relates to the selling of products.  I work as a electonic technician for a major corporate supplier to business jets, along with the rest of my business unit of what was about 1500 people, mainly in Southern California, under the overall corporation which employs about 20,000 people nationwide.   After our business update meeting today, I've now seen something that frightens my coworkers and I greatly, and is directly related to bogus political ammunition used prominently in Washington, including by our new President, whom I have otherwise supported greatly, as well as many members of congress on both sides of the aisle. rss@dailykos.com (aclarson) Congress corporatejets Executives Layoffs Obama Outrage theeconomy _710704 Thu, 19 Mar 2009 22:57:25 +0000 AIG, Etc.: Put that cart back behind the horse! https://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/3/17/709582/-AIG-Etc-Put-that-cart-back-behind-the-horse Bailout money is all the rage lately, with just about every pundit, politician and journalist putting their two cents in. Unfortunately, the ones who are expressing realistic solutions are few, far between, and receiving very little attention in the glare of the frustrations. rss@dailykos.com (ElizabethRoss) AIG AndrewSorkin Bailout Bonuses Economy Executives Finance NewYorkTimes NY Times Washington _709582 Tue, 17 Mar 2009 15:38:35 +0000 Fake Outrage by Politicians About AIG Bonuses https://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/3/16/709146/-Fake-Outrage-by-Politicians-About-AIG-Bonuses It is the favorite excuse of losers - no one could have seen it coming. Condoleezza Rice said it about 9/11 after she had been handed a memo saying, "Bin Laden Determined to Strike Inside the United States." George Bush said it about the levees not holding during Hurricane Katrina after he had sat through a presentation on how the levees will not hold during Hurricane Katrina. CNBC said it about the crash of the market and economy as they bragged day in and day out about how well they knew the market. And now the Obama administration is saying it about the AIG bonuses, as they damn well knew it was going to happen. In fact, they pushed for it to happen. Several times, Tim Geithner argued that companies receiving bailouts should be allowed to give most of their executives any damn bonus they like. And <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/10/business/economy/10bailout.html?_r=3&hp">he won that argument</a>. rss@dailykos.com (Cenk Uygur) AIG aigbailout aigoutrage aigoutragelawmakers AOL aolhotseat Bailout Bonuses BushAdministration CenkUygur Executives larrysummers Politicians Poll Recommended TimGeithner _709146 Mon, 16 Mar 2009 16:23:05 +0000 It Kills Me to Have to Ask for Help https://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/3/3/704396/-It-Kills-Me-to-Have-to-Ask-for-Help It really does, it kills me like a knife in the heart because of my burning American belief that with my smarts and perseverance I could have a better life.  I am no crybaby or whiner.  I was the first in my family to go to college and was going to win a slice of the American Dream and make my family proud. For seven years I worked my ass off to graduate from business school powered by the belief in myself and American enterprise and the good that it can do.  Sure, capitalism is not perfect but then neither are humans who have always brutally taken what is not theirs.  These days it is mostly done not with clubs, knives or guns but with legalese, contracts and lobbying.   Yes, I believed that what would bring down communism would be selling them <a href="http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=990CE7DB143AF93AA25750C0A963958260">consumer goods</a> like Coca-Cola, Levi's jeans, rock and roll and jazz, along with the unstoppable force of democracy. rss@dailykos.com (Pilgrim X) Bailout Banking CEOs Depression Executives OtherPeoplesMoney Recession Stimulus _704396 Wed, 04 Mar 2009 06:10:24 +0000 First Our House and then the Rest https://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/2/15/697868/-First-Our-House-and-then-the-Rest Did I just wake up in the Twilight zone?  The headline on the Huffington Post is that Republicans are stating that nationalization of banks shouldn't be off the table...and I fully agree with them.  That Schumer is against it is no surprise, rss@dailykos.com (rnmihayden) Banks Branding caps Executives Republicans _697868 Sun, 15 Feb 2009 19:39:22 +0000 White House Officials Unhappy With Caps On Wall Street CEO Bonuses https://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/2/14/697483/-White-House-Officials-Unhappy-With-Caps-On-Wall-Street-CEO-Bonuses There's an interesting article in the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/14/business/economy/14pay.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss">New York Times</a> about the provision in the stimulus package that sets forth tougher restrictions on executive pay and bonuses for the large companies on Wall Street receiving TARP funds. Here's the paragraph below: <blockquote> Top economic advisers to President Obama adamantly opposed the pay restrictions, according to Congressional officials, warning lawmakers behind closed doors that they went too far and would cause a brain drain in the financial industry during an acute crisis. Another worry is the tougher restrictions may encourage executives to more quickly pay back the government’s investments since, in a compromise with the financial industry, banks no longer have to replace federal funds with private capital. That could remove an extra capital cushion, further reducing lending. </blockquote> rss@dailykos.com (slinkerwink) 2009 CEOs Executives Geithner Recommended Summers Wall Street WallStreet White House WhiteHouse _697483 Sat, 14 Feb 2009 16:15:36 +0000 Who Keeps Screwing Us Over? https://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/2/12/696657/-Who-Keeps-Screwing-Us-Over I shouldn't be surprised by now. But I still was when I read <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/11/AR2009021104488.html">the article this morning in the Washington Post</a> explaining that the cap on executive pay has been removed from the stimulus bill. I knew what Congress was doing yesterday by bringing the Wall Street executives in and scolding them in public was a dog and pony show. But I had not realized how profoundly full of shit these politicians are. They make a big display of yelling at the CEOs and then the very next day they quietly remove any cap on their compensation. These people are not on our side. This is why so many Americans are so damn frustrated. Everyone in power appears to be bought and paid for. There is a circle of people in DC and NY that keep passing the money around to one another and then come and collect it from us. rss@dailykos.com (Cenk Uygur) Barack Obama BarackObama CEOs Class War ClassWar Democrats economicstimuluspackage executivepaycap Executives Rant Recommended Republicans Stimuluspackage TimGeithner Wall Street WallStreet WallStreetbonuses _696657 Thu, 12 Feb 2009 19:05:52 +0000 Stock based compensation https://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/2/11/696350/-Stock-based-compensation I listen to Thom Hartmann's radio show pretty regularly. Last week (and probably other occasions) he proposed that corporate executives should NOT be compensated with stock, because it causes them to think like shareholders, i.e. gamblers. The tax rules were changed in the early eighties in a way that encourages stock-based compensation, and this needs to be reversed. I think this is a bit short-sighted. rss@dailykos.com (EverLastingGaze) CEO coporateamerica Executives SEC Stock Market StockMarket _696350 Thu, 12 Feb 2009 00:20:10 +0000 servants retaliating against Wall St. scammers https://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/2/4/693369/-servants-retaliating-against-Wall-St-scammers Those who have intimate access to the Wall Street execs who caused our financial collapse are exacting revenge for the rest of us. rss@dailykos.com (Professor Smartass) bail out bidet Bonuses Executives Parties prostitutes retreats Snark Wall Street WallStreet _693369 Thu, 05 Feb 2009 07:46:58 +0000 Just write the $^@&!(# check. https://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/12/22/676117/-Just-write-the-check So, last time I borrowed money from a bank, for a Federally-guaranteed Small Business Loan, it was a bit of a nightmare.  They wanted to know everything down to my shoe size, with a fair amount of documentation to support the claim that I wear an 11 wide.  And, needless to say, they wanted to know exactly what I was going to do with the $50,000 I wanted to borrow - complete with a detailed business plan, revenue forecasts, et cetera.  Given that I wanted to borrow the money, I didn't find this too onerous; rather it seemed to be a reasonable expectation, if a tad tedious. But don't expect that street to run both ways. rss@dailykos.com (Shadan7) Bailout Bonuses Congress Executives HenryPaulson Oversight TARP _676117 Mon, 22 Dec 2008 17:08:01 +0000 With $10 Billion Bailout Goldman Sachs hands out $200K+ Bonuses https://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/12/19/675293/-With-10-Billion-Bailout-Goldman-Sachs-hands-out-200K-Bonuses As an American Taxpayer I am disgusted that my tax money is being used to give wealthy Bankers holiday bonuses that are far more than three times my annual income. This is the same elite group of financial saboteurs who are responsible for wrecking the American Economy. Working families who have to scrimp to make ends meet shouldn't have have their pockets picked to chip in for bonuses for these colossal failures who have never heard of scrimping.   <blockquote> <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/WN/Business/Story?id=6498680&page=1">Bailed-Out Banks Dole Out Bonuses</a> "Bonuses across Goldman Sachs will be down significantly this year," a bank representative told ABC News. The spokesman refused to disclose the size of the bonus pool or how much of the compensation fund of $10.93 billion was planned for bonuses, but some employees are reportedly being given more than $200,000 in cash. </blockquote> Paulson's faith based approach of trusting the same financial wizards who created this crisis to do what's best for the economy and the country is just as naive as Greenspan's misplaced faith in banks to do what's in their long term best interests, instead of doing what will bring in short term profit.   rss@dailykos.com (Lefty Coaster) Bailout Bonuses Congress Executives Goldman Sachs GoldmanSachs HenryPaulson MorganStanley Oversight Recommended TARP _675293 Sat, 20 Dec 2008 03:34:18 +0000 Is this the Union you joined, cut Jr. to keep Sr. perks? https://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/11/24/666059/-Is-this-the-Union-you-joined-cut-Jr-to-keep-Sr-perks Is this the UAW Union you joined?  The Union leadership are thinking they should keep the senior member pay, perks and layoff the new workers.  The Jr. Union workers UAW want to layoff are the ones with the least seniority, lowest legacy cost and least perks on the job; these are the members UAW parade before the public to illustrate how the union compromised in negotiation.  Union pay scale is based on seniority, therefore the people with the highest seniority has the highest legacy cost and perks.  Listen to the Union president and senior members, they want to keep the highest legacy cost, most senior, oldest members with highest numbers of perks and layoff the youngest workers. rss@dailykos.com (guerchiotti56) Executives Jobs members perks savecontribute Saving seniority Subprime UAW Union _666059 Tue, 25 Nov 2008 04:15:11 +0000 The Chicago Cubs, Lou Pinella and the GM Bailout https://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/11/23/665526/-The-Chicago-Cubs-Lou-Pinella-and-the-GM-Bailout It was the first week of October and the Chicago Cubs were just swept for the second year in row in the opening round of the playoffs.  I was on my way to do some work in the home of a highly regarded active baseball player.  After I finished the job and for me being a long suffering Cubs fan, I asked "What the hell happened to the Cubs"?   rss@dailykos.com (tatooblue) AbuseofPower bail out Cubs Executives Pinella _665526 Sun, 23 Nov 2008 21:28:34 +0000 Paulson Retreats on Pay?  What, no $1 Dollar Men in this, our dark hour? https://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/9/24/609391/-Paulson-Retreats-on-Pay-160-What-no-1-Dollar-Men-in-this-our-dark-hour Paulson didn’t think Wall Street executives would support the $700,000,000,000.00 bail-out program if they had to cut their salaries?   Is he kidding us, or is he just a shill for those fat cats? rss@dailykos.com (PeaceVet) Dollar-A-Year-Men Economy Executives HenryPaulson patriotic Wall Street WallStreet _609391 Thu, 25 Sep 2008 00:48:34 +0000 The Rich Are Different https://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/12/27/426663/-The-Rich-Are-Different Michelle Leder at <a href="http://www.footnoted.org/">footnoted.org</a> specializes in reading company reports and looking for those little special treats given to those folks who have their feet at the top of the corporate ladder.   So what has she found?  <a href="http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2007/12/26/big_stinker_q/">Marketplace</a> has some of Michelle's best finds for 2007.   How about the CEO at Qwest, whose daughter gets to use the corporate jet to <a href="http://www.footnoted.org/perk-city/back-to-school-but-not-on-the-bus/">travel to school</a>?  Puts that kid whose mother pulls up to jr. high in a Hummer in her place.  Cost to the stockholders: about $600,000. Personal travel was a theme in CEO perks this year.  Just ask the CEO of I2.  The company covered <a href="http://www.footnoted.org/perk-city/and-the-frequent-flyer-award-goes-to/">his commuting expenses</a> so he could live in Maine while the company offices were in Dallas.  Cost to the stockholders: $949,000 -- and by the way, the company was busy scrambling to avoid collapse.  I'm sure the other employees got equally nice treatment. Failing companies often seem to be the most generous.  Take Countrywide, which gave it's new COO a <a href="http://www.footnoted.org/perk-city/fit-for-presidents-and-kings/">promotion bonus</a> just as the sub-prime mortgage business was heading for the dumper.  Cost to the stockholders: $2.62 million.  Oh, and when it comes to that housing crisis?  Thank goodness executives don't have to worry.  See, when housing prices were going up, companies bought executive homes at the market rate and gave any profit to the executive.  When housing prices started to fall, shareholders covered any losses so the executives still made a profit.  What's that you say? Housing slump? You must be joking. For executives who wanted to avoid the whole mortgage mess, there were other options.  The new CEO of Morgans Hotel Group signed up for a relatively stingy $750,000 a year.  Of course the stockholders are coming his housing allowance, which is a mere <a href="http://www.footnoted.org/my-big-fat-deal/the-30k-nyc-apartment/">$30,000 a month</a>. Think you don't have stock in these companies?  Don't be so sure.  Several of the companies highlighted at footnoted.org are among those most widely held by mutual funds.  And as this president likes to remind us, this is the ownership society, so don't be surprised to learn that some of your retirement funds are going to fuel up that jet so an execu-kid can zip off to the prom. rss@dailykos.com (Mark Sumner) Corporations Executives _426663 Thu, 27 Dec 2007 21:54:10 +0000 Protest over the dire situation in the California State University System https://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/11/18/272549/-Protest-over-the-dire-situation-in-the-California-State-University-System There was a massive protest at the CSU Board of Trustees' meeting on 11/15.  The footage is moving, but the situation that spurred the protest is alarming.  The CSU is falling apart, and it produces more than 50% of the teachers in the largest state in the United States.  So, one can see how this is a threat to education in this country, and democracy more broadly. rss@dailykos.com (mld356) Corruption csu Education Executives perks Protests University _272549 Sat, 18 Nov 2006 22:57:16 +0000 Today's Global Economy: Does Capitalism still work? https://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/7/30/231933/-Today-s-Global-Economy-Does-Capitalism-still-work In today's global economy is the right to associate and debate freely with your co-workers no longer appropriate? Should Congress retire and rescind the 71-year old labor laws that helped Americans join together to establish a 40 hour work week, equitable pay, and help create the strongest economy the world has ever seen? In my opinion, Capitalism is the best economic system, but requires a framework of laws and enforcement to prevent abuse by those in power. Currently, executives at large corporations are ripping off the owners (shareholders), as well as employees (who are often shareholders). Executives are receiving unprecedented salaries and guaranteed serverance packages, while sending some of our Nation's most prized jobs overseas. We are giving huge tax breaks to these corporations and increasing taxes for the middle-class, even while our sons and daughters fight and die to protect corporate interests at America's expense. rss@dailykos.com (try democracy) Economy employeefreechoice Executives Labor NLRB Unions _231933 Sun, 30 Jul 2006 22:49:01 +0000 Unite to make America competitive again https://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/7/19/228660/-Unite-to-make-America-competitive-again Competition is good for America and the current lack of competition is at the root of everything that is wrong with America.  We need a viable third party to force the Republicans and Democrats to improve their performance.  We need non-partisan voter redistricting, to ensure that the reelection of candidates is based on their merits, not on their color or political party.  And we need a viable right to organize unions to encourage management to institute equitable treatment of employees. rss@dailykos.com (try democracy) Economy EmployeeFreeChoiceAct Executives Labor NLRB salaries Third Party ThirdParty Unions Wage _228660 Wed, 19 Jul 2006 16:10:08 +0000 Decline of GM - Predicted by Drucker in the 1950s https://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/7/15/227671/-Decline-of-GM-Predicted-by-Drucker-in-the-1950s What's happening to GM was inevitable and was foreseen way back in the 1950s. Back in the 1950s Peter Drucker - the guy responsible for inventing management as a science - said that GM should be broken up. I think he said five companies. In response to GMs size, a wave of consolidation hit the industry. Names like Studebaker, Packard, Nash, Hudson slowly went out of business. The lack of independent competition made American industry vulnerable to foriegn competition. In Japan there are over 8 independent car companies for a market half our size and with less than one tenth the amount of roads - we have 2 and a half, and declining, rapidly. Any wonder why they are more competitive? rss@dailykos.com (The Wonder Moron) Auto Industry AutoIndustry Automobiles Economics Executives GeneralMotors Industry Japan Japanese Labor Management Unions _227671 Sun, 16 Jul 2006 02:25:59 +0000 Investigating the Big Dick https://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/5/3/207064/-Investigating-the-Big-Dick Today Alternet has a wonderful article on Dick Cheney and his mysterious Energy task force.  What really happened with those meetings and why hasn't there been a formal investigation?? rss@dailykos.com (blur991) BigDicks Dick Cheney DickCheney Executives George W. Bush GeorgeWBush Lying Oil _207064 Wed, 03 May 2006 13:38:03 +0000 The Bucks Do Not Stop https://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/4/15/202440/-The-Bucks-Do-Not-Stop I read <a href="http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2006_04_01_digbysblog_archive.html#114504197724915416">this post by Digby</a> last night, then I <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/15/washington/15rumsfeld.html?_r=1&oref=slogin">read this</a> in the paper this morning.  Somthing is going on we don't know about.  Either Digby is right and the war in Iran has already secretly started (didn't Hirsch say there were recon forces on the ground?), or Rummy has got pictures of Jr. going down on Cheaney's Dick. When you add to that all the news about <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/15/business/15pay.html">how much money</a> top executives are stashing away, you begin to wonder if the elites are geting ready to end the world.  I think someone should start casing some of these guys' houses and see if they're spending all those bucks on palatial bunkers and survival supplies.   Crossposted at <a href="http://www.progressiveblendradio.com">Progressive Blend Radio</a> Tune In, Turn On, Vote Them Out! rss@dailykos.com (chasm) DonaldRumsfeld Executives Iran Salary _202440 Sat, 15 Apr 2006 18:18:03 +0000 Rising Executive Pay - Sinking Worker Salaries https://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/4/9/200859/-Rising-Executive-Pay-Sinking-Worker-Salaries The New York Times has two stories about bloated executive pay.  Sounds like a great wave for Democrats to criticize W and his Bush League minions, especially as it relates emotionally to the K Street project's pay-for-play corruption: <blockquote>April 9, 2006 Executive Pay: A Special Report <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/09/business/businessspecial/09pay.html?ex=1302235200&en=8bd05e2a3f236042&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss">Off to the Races Again, Leaving Many Behind</a> By ERIC DASH ...Even here in the heartland, where corporate chieftains do not take home pay packages that are anywhere near those of Hollywood moguls or Wall Street bankers, the pay gap between the boss and the rank-and-file is wide. New technology and low-cost labor in places like China and India have put downward pressure on the wages and benefits of the average American worker. Executive pay, meanwhile, continues to rise at an astonishing rate. (Source: New York Times.)</blockquote>The NYT has another article highlighting the incestuous world of executive pay consultants chosen by the very folks whose salaries they decide: <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/10/business/10pay.html">For Consultants, It Can Pay to Back the Boss's Big Raise</a>. More below the fold... rss@dailykos.com (RepubAnon) Economy Executives Pensions Salary Unemployment _200859 Mon, 10 Apr 2006 03:57:22 +0000 Oh! The humanity! Wimpy Repugs, Oil Execs and Profits - Poll included https://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/2/2/184091/-Oh-The-humanity-Wimpy-Repugs-Oil-Execs-and-Profits-Poll-included Accustomed to seeing Bushco "Cheneying" Senate and Congress Repugs and seeing the Repugs constantly "Drop the soap" on the Dems with so many of them who, at  an "Alarming Frequency", dutifully bend over to pick it up. I thought I had seen the ultimate in wimpishness (sic). I was wrong, Oil Executives flipped the bird to the Republicans in The Senate Judiciary Committee who took it "Bareback" and without lubrication. Or,  did they? After all, money is the best lubricant. Isn't?  Pity us consumers who do not have it and keep getting it from the fat cats, i.,e., Big Dick Cheney. rss@dailykos.com (Tranny) Big Oil BigOil BP conocophillips Executives ExxonMobil Hearing Profits SenateJudiciaryCommittee Shell _184091 Fri, 03 Feb 2006 06:42:18 +0000 Wal-Mart Execs KNEW Contractors Hired Illegals https://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/11/7/163068/-Wal-Mart-Execs-KNEW-Contractors-Hired-Illegals just coming over the wires now... Federal Affidavit Says Wal-Mart Executives Knew Cleaning Contractors Hired Illegal Immigrants <blockquote>Senior Wal-Mart executives knew cleaning contractors were hiring illegal immigrants, many of whom were housed in crowded conditions and sometimes slept in the backs of stores, according to a federal agency's affidavit. The affidavit, unsealed last week, was part of an investigation of Wal-Mart by federal immigration officials that led to the 2003 raid on 60 Wal-Mart stores in 21 states, and the arrests of 245 illegal workers. The retailer agreed to pay $11 million in March to settle the case, but says top executives neither encouraged nor knew of the practice.</blockquote> rss@dailykos.com (jillian) Contractors Executives IllegalImmigration Labor Wal-Mart _163068 Mon, 07 Nov 2005 23:12:19 +0000