Executive Compensation.

I took a friend to the V.A. Hospital this morning for an MRI and while sitting in the waiting room, I read an article in the March issue of Forbes where the writer was defending executive compensation. Hey, it's a free market economy and I'm all for getting paid as much as you can, but come on! They've all had a good ride, it's time to come down to earth. When the company you work for is losing money hand over fist for the shareholders, why would you expect to get a bonus? When the company I worked for was losing money, not only did I NOT ask for a bonus, I voluntarily took a substantial pay cut until things turned around. As it turned out, we did turn things around and started making a profit. A failed lease negotiation ended up closing the business, but the point is, I was realistic about the whole situation in the sense that I wasn't asking for more money for non-performance. We're only talking about a few thousand dollars a month in losses with this company. If the company you work for lost millions or even billions of dollars of shareholder (i.e. owners) money, why in heaven's name would anyone expect to get a bonus? Get real people. Suck it up and start working for your money like the rest of us.

A special note to the board of directors of the companies who are paying these outlandish bonuses and passing lavish compensation packages: The owners of the company are tired of over compensated under performing executives. If you don't believe this, check out all the shareholder lawsuits going on right now. Time to change.