Tuesday, March 22, 2005

CEO Pay Watch

The idea that to make a man work you’ve got to hold gold in front of his eyes is a growth, not an axiom. We’ve done that for so long that we’ve forgotten there’s any other way.
F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896–1940), author

This is a first in a periodic highlighting of executive salaries in the country’s sad saga of further dividing the haves and have-nots. In a reversal of Newton’s Laws, money may trickle down, but it shoots up to a privilege few like cocaine going up a celebrity’s nose.

While we sweat watching the dollars add up and the gallons on the gas pump stand seemly stationary, the CEO at Chevron watched his compensation increase to $9.98 million.

If you wonder why your cell phone bill is outrageous, besides chatting while on the freeway, it might have something to do with the fact that Verizon Communications Inc. is paying its chief executive/chairman $17.3 million in cash, equity and perks.

I wonder what the rank and file get in the way of perks, retirement or even job security?

2 comments:

Janet said...

Stuff like that just depresses me more than words can say. So on that note, I have nothing to add.:(

Chandira said...

Verizon pays most of my paycheck.. One of our biggest clients. So I have no comment. I get your point though.