More on the Economic Disparity Caused by Overpaid Executives
When I inherited some stocks, I read the proxy statements carefully and was amazed at the salaries, bonuses, options and golden parachutes given to the top executives (“Rise of the Corporate Plutocrats,” by Vince Beiser, Oct. 17). I was even more unhappy when I read about the size of the retainer fees and the extra perks board members receive, especially their life insurance policies. The same names appeared on many boards. How could they give enough attention to each board to warrant that kind of remuneration and still run their own company or college?
Considering that this country was founded by people who were fed up with poverty and a class system, it’s ironic that we seem to have come full circle. It’s the executives of corporations and union bosses who live like kings. A company can hire a new CEO, but it takes the combined effort of many hard-working employees to make it successful, while the CEO makes as much as 400 times their wages. It’s time for a change.
Jeanne H. Manning
Laguna Woods
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More for the few, ever less for the multitudes. Beiser’s article brought to mind another time and place. The French aristocrats had everything while the peasants had nothing. Much to the surprise of the overlords, the peasants rose up. Those who previously had everything ended up with nothing, not even their pampered lives. Those who refuse to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.
S.J. Baer
Woodland Hills
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I expected facts and figures describing the rising incidence of overpaid executives. Instead I got anecdotal evidence from one source at the Beverly Hills Four Seasons Hotel. Worse, many of Beiser’s conclusions were rooted in ideology rather than logic. The lead paragraph played up the use of private jets as though they are the height of conspicuous consumption, but it ignored recent developments--such as fractional jet ownership--that have made private jets less costly and more convenient.
Beiser fanned our envy of the rich and successful. He suggested that people who make a lot of money must be doing something wrong. Well, that’s just one way to explain to ourselves why we aren’t making a lot of money while allowing us to feel smug and self-righteous about it. Beiser took us for a disappointing excursion down the low road.
Mark J. Jurecki
Carlsbad
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I manage a homeless prevention program that extends financial and counseling assistance to folks who are at risk of losing their housing due to a “temporary” crisis. Our clients include retail clerks, administrative assistants, hospital workers, hotel/restaurant workers, bank employees, office managers/staff and receptionists. Most are high school-educated. But in the past two years, we have seen an alarming increase of clients with college degrees. Their crisis is loss of work, and when they do find work, it is below their level of experience, and the wages barely meet their housing needs.
The Hilton executive who said that he wasn’t prepared to live on less, had better start preparing to pay $10 a pound for potatoes so the grocery clerk who rings up his groceries can have decent healthcare and livable wages. When the middle class cannot afford basic needs, a cultural eruption is headed our way.
Donna Dziak
Seattle
