Those EVIL rich people! How dare they be rich! It's not like they worked for their money or anything. No! They had it handed to them on a silver platter!
It disgusts me! We're all poor because they're a bunch of greedy, good-for-nothing bastards who horde all the money for themselves! They stuff it in their mattresses and roll naked in it! No, no, they don't spend it, they horde it just keep us poor!
Selfish me, you're right. Bill Gates really has worked a million times harder than most of us. Thanks for the enlightening post.
Seriously, while I have no problem with capitalism rewarding those who take the risks (and often screwing other risk takers), the scale *is* a bit off.
It's just a bit disgusting when these guys will get a few million dollar bonus for keeping the salaries of the people who helped made them rich down for example. Or get millions of bucks even if they run a company into the ground, bankrupt it, and screw all of the stockholders and employees.
I happen to write HR code now, so am privy to the salaries and other compensation of all employees at my company. I've seen a few things happen recently, as our profit margin is in the red...
Layoffs everywhere in the company
Mandatory pay cuts for employees in the middle ranges of salary
Cuts in incentive bonuses, or complete elimination
An increase in salary and bonuses to the top 10% of salary grades here
Yeah, those guys really earned their wealth, and certainly not at the expense o
[litanty of layoffs and cuts affecting the lower 90%] An increase in salary and bonuses to the top 10% of salary grades here
There is a consistent oversimplification here that bugs me.
Two Facts: 1) In the long run, if an employee feels that they can do better elsewhere, they are going to leave, 2) The job of a corporation is to protect and grow shareholder value.
It is easy to imagine that the markets would react negatively if much of the senior management jumped ship. The news headlines would be "Cor
Do you, then, not think it would be fair when, as you have to lay off people from you company, you would AT LEAST keep your compensation level, rather than increase it by 7 digit numbers?
This is an extreme example, but it does remind me of what disghusted me most about Enron. The top brass was obviously greedy, and even more obviously oblivious to the lives they were destroying at the same time. People with families, homes, etc... were looking at losing them because Fastow (et all) wanted to be rich. T
If the senior management had any sort of commitment to the company beyond the short term as they should, they would not jump ship in the face of rough times.
In addition, laying off 1000 people while simultaneously raising your own salary by or taking a bonus of an amount equal to or even half of what you saved by laying off the workers is just wrong, no matter how you look at it. If you need to save money to keep the company afloat, then layoffs are acceptable. But they are not acceptable when it is for
Sorry to reply twice... I thought of somethine else, though.
A number of years ago I read an article about "Ben & Jerry's" Ice Cream. Part of their corporate policy is that there is a salary multiple of seven. Their highest placed executive could not earn more that 7 times what their lowest worker earned. So having a janitor that earned $25,000 meant that an executive could not earn more than $175,000.
The same article also noted that young executives would rise through the ranks at Ben & Jerr
Ah, but here, the CEO earns in the $200k range.. in salary. Then there's an incentive bonus, which all employees participate in. In salary grades 1-89, there's a max of 8% (almost never realized, unless you're an attorney). In grades 90-99 (99=CEO) there's a minimum of 8%. No max.
Then, there's an executive bonus, which only applies to grades 90-99. No restrictions... actually no rules. Just a dartboard I guess.
This company is not unique in that structure. I coded for a major bank a few years bac
...yeah, because of course Ben & Jerry's, with their corporate salary caps and all, is so terribly uncompetitive against companies with more executive compensation. How inefficient, to not piss away all their money towards the wealth of the sanctified execs. Why, if they keep THAT up, you'll NEVER see their ice cream in pretty much every place ice cream gets sold, will you?
Smarten up. Income disparities are inefficiencies. When they get cherry-picked, other companies are pruning greed-wood out of Ben
Hey, I realize it's a bit inappropriate to post here, but I noticed the hated "Unemployed" in your sig. Are you still?
I know of a company on Long Island that's currently looking... they're in Melville (and in Mahwah, NJ). They're an ASP for the company I work for, and they could seriously use some PL/SQL help.
If you have any interest, ping me at jeffreyhamby@hotmail.com.
Selfish me, you're right. Bill Gates really has worked a million times harder than most of us. Thanks for the enlightening post.
Because Bill Gates is a representative sampling of rich people, right?
It's just a bit disgusting when these guys will get a few million dollar bonus for keeping the salaries of the people who helped made them rich down for example. Or get millions of bucks even if they run a company into the ground, bankrupt it, and screw all of the stockholders and employees.
You hear about the bad apples in the media, and then assume the whole lot of them are evil. It simply isn't true.
But wait! It must be true! I saw a story on CNN about how evil and despicable the rich people are, so it must be completely true! I know this one guy who got laid off (even though he got a better job that he enjoys more and has a higher salary) in the same decade as his boss got a raise, so his boss must be the Spawn of Satan! Don't you come around here with that right-wing logic talk... I kno
Class warfare (Score:3, Insightful)
It disgusts me! We're all poor because they're a bunch of greedy, good-for-nothing bastards who horde all the money for themselves! They stuff it in their mattresses and roll naked in it! No, no, they don't spend it, they horde it just keep us poor!
Evil I tell you, EEEEEEVVVVVIIIIIIILLL!
Re:Class warfare (Score:5, Insightful)
Seriously, while I have no problem with capitalism rewarding those who take the risks (and often screwing other risk takers), the scale *is* a bit off.
It's just a bit disgusting when these guys will get a few million dollar bonus for keeping the salaries of the people who helped made them rich down for example. Or get millions of bucks even if they run a company into the ground, bankrupt it, and screw all of the stockholders and employees.
Re:Class warfare (Score:2)
I happen to write HR code now, so am privy to the salaries and other compensation of all employees at my company. I've seen a few things happen recently, as our profit margin is in the red...
Layoffs everywhere in the company
Mandatory pay cuts for employees in the middle ranges of salary
Cuts in incentive bonuses, or complete elimination
An increase in salary and bonuses to the top 10% of salary grades here
Yeah, those guys really earned their wealth, and certainly not at the expense o
Re:Class warfare (Score:2)
There is a consistent oversimplification here that bugs me.
Two Facts: 1) In the long run, if an employee feels that they can do better elsewhere, they are going to leave, 2) The job of a corporation is to protect and grow shareholder value.
It is easy to imagine that the markets would react negatively if much of the senior management jumped ship. The news headlines would be "Cor
Re:Class warfare (Score:2)
This is an extreme example, but it does remind me of what disghusted me most about Enron. The top brass was obviously greedy, and even more obviously oblivious to the lives they were destroying at the same time. People with families, homes, etc... were looking at losing them because Fastow (et all) wanted to be rich. T
Re:Class warfare (Score:2)
In addition, laying off 1000 people while simultaneously raising your own salary by or taking a bonus of an amount equal to or even half of what you saved by laying off the workers is just wrong, no matter how you look at it. If you need to save money to keep the company afloat, then layoffs are acceptable. But they are not acceptable when it is for
Re:Class warfare (Score:2)
A number of years ago I read an article about "Ben & Jerry's" Ice Cream. Part of their corporate policy is that there is a salary multiple of seven. Their highest placed executive could not earn more that 7 times what their lowest worker earned. So having a janitor that earned $25,000 meant that an executive could not earn more than $175,000.
The same article also noted that young executives would rise through the ranks at Ben & Jerr
Re:Class warfare (Score:2)
Then, there's an executive bonus, which only applies to grades 90-99. No restrictions... actually no rules. Just a dartboard I guess.
This company is not unique in that structure. I coded for a major bank a few years bac
Re:Class warfare (Score:2)
Smarten up. Income disparities are inefficiencies. When they get cherry-picked, other companies are pruning greed-wood out of Ben
Re:Class warfare (Score:2)
I know of a company on Long Island that's currently looking... they're in Melville (and in Mahwah, NJ). They're an ASP for the company I work for, and they could seriously use some PL/SQL help.
If you have any interest, ping me at jeffreyhamby@hotmail.com.
Re:Class warfare (Score:2)
Because Bill Gates is a representative sampling of rich people, right?
It's just a bit disgusting when these guys will get a few million dollar bonus for keeping the salaries of the people who helped made them rich down for example. Or get millions of bucks even if they run a company into the ground, bankrupt it, and screw all of the stockholders and employees.
Oh yeah...they A
Re:Class warfare (Score:2)
But wait! It must be true! I saw a story on CNN about how evil and despicable the rich people are, so it must be completely true! I know this one guy who got laid off (even though he got a better job that he enjoys more and has a higher salary) in the same decade as his boss got a raise, so his boss must be the Spawn of Satan! Don't you come around here with that right-wing logic talk... I kno
Re:Class warfare (Score:2)
Yer right... lets engage in wealth redistribution! Lets reward those who do nothing, and lets make sure to remove any incentive to do better.
Oh wait, stupid me, we already do that! Thanks IRS!