Quote:
Originally Posted by Skerlnik
I can always count on you to find some outlier exception, OE. 
Considering Delta goes into bankruptcy every other week, are you implying he's underpaid?
From a Bill Moyers excerpt I found after 5 seconds on Google:
On top of Steenland's salary [Northwest Airlines' CEO], reported at half a million dollars or more last year, he will get a total compensation package of $26.6 million in stock.
That's $5.8 million in stock options and $20.8 million worth of restricted stock that will vest over the next four years. And his official next-of-kin — the company's four Executive Vice Presidents - were offered more than 10 million dollars each, on top of their salaries, if they stay on for four years.
Oh, yes, Gary Wilson, the outgoing chairman — who already has $21 million dollars from stock he cashed in just before the bankruptcy — will get a two million-dollar good-bye gift plus medical and dental insurance for life — that's right — for life. As for the folks who merely fly the planes, fix the engines, and serve those meals — I mean, snacks — well, they took pay cuts of 20 to 40 percent, as well as curtailed medical benefits, fewer days off and frozen pensions. (snip)
With a bit of time, I could likely turn up hundreds of articles about bankrupted, destroyed, mismanaged companies awarding millions to their top execs.
I don't want to turn this into a screed against CEOs, but don't you think that it's a little odd that we reward people for spectacular failure? I see factoids like this, and then hear them bleat about expenses, and get bailed out time and again. Please tell me you're not defending this mind-blowingly bizarre system we've allowed to blossom?
There's no sugar-coating the treatment the airlines have given us all, for years, and for them to whine for US to help THEM out is outrageously arrogant. |
Delta is still the third largest Airliner in the nation, it has a lot of money going in and out (just net out), so it would still be expected to be one of the highest payers.
Anyway, for your example, it actually says, "That's $5.8 million in stock options and $20.8 million worth of restricted stock that will vest
over the next four years." that means that he won't have access to all of it until four years, putting him way short of the 50 mil a year.
I'm not saying anyone is under or over paid. I merely challenged your claim that the CEO's are making 50 million a year, Oil CEOs don't even make that kind of money (they top at about 20-25 million a year with stock options).
Of course they pay a lot of money to their Execs, what do you think would happen if they didn't pay them along with the market standard for that position? The execs would leave (retire until high paying jobs would come back, they have the money to live most comfortibly for a long time) and the company would have to settle with execs with less skill and less experience and the company (which is already facing hard times with the high oil prices) would likely go under even harder and faster. Then all those workers that took a 20 - 40 % pay cut now get a 100% pay cut.
You're right, they shouldn't whine, they should just raise their prices as their costs go up. But instead they ask for help so that they can keep prices somewhat low for us.