Curbing greed: would you take a salary cap?
Filed under: Banks, Borrowing, Make Money Fast, Wealth, Recession
When you hear stories of small business owners and entrepreneurs, there's always that common thread of giving back to the business. Doing whatever it takes to make the products and services better. Starting out, most business owners can barely afford to pay themselves, if they do at all, and often have to rely on people, who believe in the business, to work for very little or for free.It seems then, if a C.E.O. is earning an exorbitant salary, that money is being kept out of the business, its products, services, and people. A C.E.O.'s salary can be an indicator of that person's values--the more they make, the more they've been bitten by the greed bug. Run. This person will gamble the house down. Greed is a sickness, it should now be treated as such. Without even giving the most obvious case in point (Bernie Madoff) all of Wall Street needs to be seen for what rules it: greed. What got us into the economic crisis?: unchecked greed.
This isn't news, the news is President Obama's $500,000 salary cap on executives of banks that took tax payer money. Makes sense. We're now investors. You're on our payroll. In order to keep the greed bug epidemic from happening again, we need a vaccine--we need to extend salary caps on all major banks and investment firms--public or private--even after the crisis has ended. You guys will still make enough to attract a talented workforce, it's just you won't be trying to replace each other in the Guinness Book of World Records as highest-paid C.E.O. (That's what it seemed like you were trying to do for awhile).
So if a C.E.O. is making more than ten-times that of the company's salary average (calculated excluding the C.E.O.'s) then this person has "greed rabies." It will infect the company culture, spread to other companies, and pretty soon we have another subprime loan crisis on our hands. Batten down the hatches.
Would you take a salary cap? If it meant your co-workers could keep their jobs in these rocky times, your company could get stronger to weather the storm, then the answer should be yes. This is a reality for many people right now.
For people whose job is to play with money, it should be a reality all the time. Extended salary caps tell executives on Wall Street, you're here to do a job like everyone else, not to cash out. It's about performance, not just making money. Any small business owner and entrepreneur knows that, or else their businesses would never get off the ground.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
2-04-2009 @ 10:20PM
Will said...
Exactly right sorry to sound socialist but I know if I made $1000 dollars a week with a $1200 dollars I could live the rest of my life satisfied. How much money do you really ABSOLUTELY NEED!
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2-04-2009 @ 10:30PM
Will said...
-correction- "$1200 dollar mortgage" 5.35 an hour can not support any American in our current society, CEO's make 400 times as much as the average worker that is so much money I can't even conceive how much money that is. I wonder why our economy HAS GONE TO SHIT! Oh yeah, all of our economies (held by banker's) money belongs to 5% of the entire population. We are free alright, free to the top 5%!
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4-16-2009 @ 3:53PM
Lisa said...
Absolutely right
2-05-2009 @ 6:00AM
Ted said...
While it should go without saying that even a legitimate President’s “ordered” $500,000 pay cap is an unenforceable intrusion into the private sector, as if that weren’t enough, Obama LACKS EVEN OSTENSIBLE AUTHORITY to issue the order UNTIL HE OVERCOMES “RES IPSA LOQUITUR” BY SUPPLYING HIS LONG FORM BIRTH CERTIFICATE AND PROVING HIS ELIGIBILITY TO BE PRESIDENT UNDER ARTICLE 2 OF THE US CONSTITUTION.
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2-05-2009 @ 2:10PM
KD said...
Right, as if George Bush's illustrious family legacy in US history merited him OR helped us in ANY way....what is article 2 of the US constitution? ELECTORS elected the man, birth cerificate or no! is this what greed has come to? quesitoning the legitimacy of a president more popularly elected than any in recent history? Thank the executive powers that at least ONE man has any bit of moral sway that can begin to govern the rampant greed! People like TED should make a run on the banks and get the hell our of here (US) and NOW....
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2-06-2009 @ 11:18PM
Sandeep Kumar said...
Why Failure?
As a matter of opinion, why a Bank/ Business shows loss and bring bad name. It happened to know only in the third or fourth quarter results only. Had the auditors been on holidays or were not competent enough to check the ongoing facts?
All right, if people consumed more or are not in a position to repay their out standings:
Banks/Business can carry forward the loss to their next year Balance Sheets.
They can give moratorium period first than go for easily payable installments at less rate of interest.
The accountability is held on the persons who are responsible to collect the overdue payments. After all, they are also being paid for. If the payment does not come, the person sold highest funds is penalized with more cuts from his/her salary accordingly in a downward trend. No need to lay off. Let them try hard with loyalty to their employers. It would be a positive attitude. Eventually, when the economy comes on track the same employees would be honored in one way or the other. From the another view point, people may call upon the same situation, because they know banks with the passage of time may write off their long due as bad debts not received, which is a deliberated loss.
Otherwise, companies will make a queue to have a pie of bailout packages by the Govts. Rather, it would be detrimental for the economy, as the money given to support will take the space vacated by already siphoned out funds.
This is in the case of corporate. What about the SME’s? They are indeed the shoulders on which the big corporate show their strength in the market. They are in fact, crushed by the present situation somewhere, they are losing ground or non competitive due the lack of technology, somewhere on grounds of high cost of funds, sometimes because of their non strategic location and sometimes becomes the victims of corruption.
Hence, all these issues require a series of debate at a world centre stage and out comes be applied simultaneously to anchor upon the fixed situation.
Regards
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2-08-2009 @ 6:31AM
Kerri said...
Anything you do in the country, someone is out to rip you off. The phone company, the cable company, electric, water, and gas companies. Retail and grocery stores. The list just goes on and on. Your investors, bankers... just absolutely any time you have any kind of dealings out the world, someone is out to nickel and dime you to death. (some, much more than just nickels and dimes) Living in America almost makes me want to go hide under a rock.
I am just so sick of everyone's greed. Do what I do, and learn to trade the forex. You don't need to rely on any investors. Do it yourself! If you don't know how to trade, get a free $100,000 forex trade simulator account at http://forex-currencyexchange.com click the link at the top left corner, if I remember correctly. It will take you to a sign up page where all you have to do is give your name and email. You can then start practicing trading.
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