Comments on: The Myths of CEO Compensation, Part III http://thegoodthebadthespin.com/2009/05/22/the-myths-of-ceo-compensation-part-iii/ The Intersection Between Public Relations and the News Media Wed, 23 Nov 2011 22:57:04 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: OSMAN DENIZTEKIN http://thegoodthebadthespin.com/2009/05/22/the-myths-of-ceo-compensation-part-iii/comment-page-1/#comment-1877 OSMAN DENIZTEKIN Mon, 28 Dec 2009 17:40:56 +0000 http://thegoodthebadthespin.com/?p=802#comment-1877 So what Mr. Sowell's account boils down to is: Damned if you do (keep the failing CEO in place) and damned if you don't (and fire him with a hefty compensation package as good riddance alimony.) Either way it's the stakeholders' money (or even taxpayers' money, when the corporation needs to be bailed out thanks to the same CEO and cohorts) that is paid in return for failure. As for celebrities' compensation, Mr. Sowell is just spining the facts: If Michael Jordan or M.Moore earned tens of millions a year, it was because the former's team (Chicago Bulls) got 6 NBA titles in 8 years; and the latter's documentaries had very good box office returns. Do you think either of them could have earned as much if they hadn't? It amazes me how sometimes the best educated people can overlook the simplest facts and come up with such uneducated arguments! So what Mr. Sowell’s account boils down to is: Damned if you do (keep the failing CEO in place) and damned if you don’t (and fire him with a hefty compensation package as good riddance alimony.) Either way it’s the stakeholders’ money (or even taxpayers’ money, when the corporation needs to be bailed out thanks to the same CEO and cohorts) that is paid in return for failure. As for celebrities’ compensation, Mr. Sowell is just spining the facts: If Michael Jordan or M.Moore earned tens of millions a year, it was because the former’s team (Chicago Bulls) got 6 NBA titles in 8 years; and the latter’s documentaries had very good box office returns. Do you think either of them could have earned as much if they hadn’t? It amazes me how sometimes the best educated people can overlook the simplest facts and come up with such uneducated arguments!

]]> By: Melanie http://thegoodthebadthespin.com/2009/05/22/the-myths-of-ceo-compensation-part-iii/comment-page-1/#comment-884 Melanie Fri, 22 May 2009 14:49:07 +0000 http://thegoodthebadthespin.com/?p=802#comment-884 OK, I agree that Michael Moore's comments were disingenuous. But to claim that greed isn't a factor in corporate compensation schemes and to say that this is a simple issue of supply and demand is to ignore the underlying problem: unbridled capitalism itself. In the words of genius economic professor Willem Houwink: "Capitalism is extraordinarily cruel." I say this as someone who believes in entrepreneurship and capitalism -- but not in the unrestrained form that led to the global economic meltdown, or that keeps the majority of Mexicans in poverty, for example. The claim that criticism of celebrities' salaries is "almost unheard of" makes me discount Sowell's other remarks. What ivory tower is he living in? OK, I agree that Michael Moore’s comments were disingenuous. But to claim that greed isn’t a factor in corporate compensation schemes and to say that this is a simple issue of supply and demand is to ignore the underlying problem: unbridled capitalism itself. In the words of genius economic professor Willem Houwink: “Capitalism is extraordinarily cruel.”

I say this as someone who believes in entrepreneurship and capitalism — but not in the unrestrained form that led to the global economic meltdown, or that keeps the majority of Mexicans in poverty, for example.

The claim that criticism of celebrities’ salaries is “almost unheard of” makes me discount Sowell’s other remarks. What ivory tower is he living in?

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