[Public_Domain]

[Yogi]

Mr_Canada Mr_Canada:

OnTheIce OnTheIce:

andyt andyt:

And let's enact labor legislation that creates a level playing field between worker and company. And let's tax companies and their rich owners sufficiently on their profits.

Dumb.

CEO's and workers aren't the same, nor should they be treated the same. One is the boss, the other is the worker. No even playing field. Be happy you have a job and if you don't like it, find another.

Yea, let's tax the shit outta companies and drive them away.

Companies owe nothing to their workers but a pay check and a safe environment.

The same load of horseshit fed to the people since feudal times. Andyt might be asking for only a 'level playing field', but I'm more specifically asking for the entire dismantling of the present common workplace hierarchy in favour of a democratic and 100% worker-run workplace. Since it's run by workers, it'll run for the workers and their communities. The position of CEO is like that of King. "We need them!" Their position is redundant and wasteful, it can certainly be replaced.

If corporations run away, man, gosh, I don't know what we'd do. I suppose we'd grow grain, repair roads, build hospitals, and all the other crap we normally do because we're human beings with the ability and the need.

Companies exist because of their workers. The company owes the workers everything because the company is the workers. The position of CEO is a figment of the imagination, like the Prime Minister. It doesn't translate into the actual worth of their labour at all. They go to the meetings, but we go to the mines.

"Be happy you have a job" - No.

Spoken like someone who has absolutely no business experience, or sense of,and SFA for experience in the real world!

[Public_Domain]

[andyt]

Yeah, Yogi, you have business experience. When are you and Lloyd Blankfein getting together for a round of golf next, since you move in those circles?

Canadian Mind: What communism fails to address is human greed. It's deeply ingrained in us, it can't just be overcome with nice sentiments. But it also can't just be allowed to run untrammeled - as we've seen, that causes more damage to the global economy than communism ever did. Unfortunately, it's not very exciting, I know, but the mushy middle seems to work out best. You need to reward human striving, but not so much it just turns us into a pack of wild dogs, and eliminates that other deep human faculty - co-operation. If people feel the deck is too stacked against them they stop co-operating. That's as true in Russia as it would be in On the Ice's Randian dream world.

[raydan]

Big businesses today are like psychopaths, that is, they have absolutely no empathy towards others.

Here you go, charge as much as you can for your products or services and make as much money as you possibly can without any moral obligations. Pay as little taxes as you can, your employes the lowest possible salary and as little perks as you can. Of course, you reason you do this is so that you can pay out high dividends and raise the value of your stocks. This, so that the rich shareholders can get richer...
and I forgot, pay out very large salaries to a select few and give them big bonuses...
and complain to gouvernment for handouts whenever possible.

[andyt]

raydan raydan:

Big businesses today are like psychopaths, that is, they have absolutely no empathy towards others.

Here you go, charge as much as you can for your products or services and make as much money as you possibly can without any moral obligations. Pay as little taxes as you can, your employes the lowest possible salary and as little perks as you can. Of course, you reason you do this is so that you can pay out high dividends and raise the value of your stocks. This, so that the rich shareholders can get richer...
and I forgot, pay out very large salaries to a select few and give them big bonuses...
and complain to gouvernment for handouts whenever possible.

That's what business is - a psychopathic institution with no empathy. It's not supposed to be any different. But us, supposedly sane, people have to restrain business from causing harm.

The problem isn't business, it's not a human entity. It's the people behind business who have become too psychopathic. They've lost all sense of community and are just out for themselves. If we don't find a way to also restrain them, we are going to be in big trouble

[dino_bobba_renno]

It’s funny how the very same people who get so incredibly pissed off over the issue of executive pay never seem to get nearly as mad over the amounts paid to many actors/actresses and musicians. Take the CEO of Viacom, Philippe Dauman for example. Here you have a guy who is responsible for the stewardship of a company which is conservatively valued at more than 5 billion dollars and which has over 5 million shares on the market. It has thousands of people working for it and makes numerous products and provides numerous services. Any and every decision that this man makes can affect the thousands of people who work for and invest in that company. Then take for comparison Will Smith. He made roughly the same amount last year as Dauman and really what did he do? Made a movie or two? Did he “create” any jobs; does he have shareholders who he generates wealth for?

I know arguing in favour of these large compensation packages for executives is a no win position, hell I’m even out raged by some of the amounts which have been paid out but there are a lot of other people who are more worthy of our collective outrage than just the executives of these companies.

[DanSC]

I really don't have a problem with executives making money if their companies are doing well. I do have a problem with executives that receive millions while their companies nosedive into bankruptcy.

[andyt]

It isn't just about the pay. It's the influence these guys wield vs that of movie stars. Let companies pay their execs and their movie stars what ever they want - that's their choice. But let's have a tax system that re-distributes enough of the wealth. And lets regulate business so they can't get out of control again. If a movie is bad, you can't say the actor ripped you off the same way as when these execs manipulate markets.

The promise of the post-war years was that we were all moving forward in concert. Sure, some people got paid a lot more than others, and movie stars were obscenely wealthy, but it seemed fair. Unions got the average working man a good deal, and he knew it. That promise has been broken. Stretch that band too far and it will snap, which won't be fun for anybody.

[Public_Domain]

[Public_Domain]

[dino_bobba_renno]

Mr_Canada Mr_Canada:

dino_bobba_renno dino_bobba_renno:

It’s funny how the very same people who get so incredibly pissed off over the issue of executive pay never seem to get nearly as mad over the amounts paid to many actors/actresses and musicians. Take the CEO of Viacom, Philippe Dauman for example. Here you have a guy who is responsible for the stewardship of a company which is conservatively valued at more than 5 billion dollars and which has over 5 million shares on the market. It has thousands of people working for it and makes numerous products and provides numerous services. Any and every decision that this man makes can affect the thousands of people who work for and invest in that company. Then take for comparison Will Smith. He made roughly the same amount last year as Dauman and really what did he do? Made a movie or two? Did he “create” any jobs; does he have shareholders who he generates wealth for?

I know arguing in favour of these large compensation packages for executives is a no win position, hell I’m even out raged by some of the amounts which have been paid out but there are a lot of other people who are more worthy of our collective outrage than just the executives of these companies.

Hey! I agree with you!

Athletes, Musicians, Actors... They are payed OBSCENE amounts and it should end so people who are actually interested in this stuff can do it.

I highly support being collectively angry at the whole situation

Knowing that Snookie was paid $32000 to speak at Rutgers pretty says it all

[Public_Domain]

[saturn_656]

dino_bobba_renno dino_bobba_renno:

Knowing that Snookie was paid $32000 to speak at Rutgers pretty says it all

Ugh... they paid about $31995 too much.

[Public_Domain]