If your date was looking at you like that, wouldn't you be worried she had a butcher knife hidden somewhere?
Nancy Pelosi was interviewed today on “Face The Nation“. I do prefer to come to conclusions on politicians just based on the facts of what they do and say, but forgive me for just thinking that Pelosi is someone who just gives me the creeps. She has that googly eyed stare that just light up my internal looney warning indicator. Once you mix that with her positions and many of her statements, it just completely rounds-out the whole “Wacky Speaker Of The House” vibe.
The conversation on “Face The Nation” was focused mainly on the auto industry bail out. One of the topics of the discussion involved what these CEOs of the auto manufacturers make. They compared the CEO of Toyota who makes $1 Million a year while CEOs of the U.S. auto makers make $15 Million and $25 million while their companies are loosing money by the truckload.
As the discussion went on, Speaker Pelosi made what I thought was an interested comment. She said (and I am paraphrasing till I can dig up the exact quote):
Taxpayers won’t stand for their tax dollars going toward paying these CEOs for their lack of success
I see. What is more amazing, I agree with the Speaker. She is absolutely right. It is unthinkable for tax dollars to be spent on paying someone being unsuccessful. This also brings up a contradiction that often crops up. Isn’t this what welfare does? Don’t we use tax dollars to pay people who are not successful? Don’t get me wrong. I don’t think that we should just leave people to rot when they are on hard times. However, if the taxpayers, through our government, are going to pay people who are on tough times, I expect that there is a clear limit to that pay and that while they are getting paid that are doing SOMETHING to earn that money. I don’t care if it is cleaning trash at the local park or filing at the DMV – but NOBODY should be getting paid simply because they are unwilling/unable to earn it for themselves.
Now I agree that what CEOs in America get paid is nuts. What is more amazing to me is that once you have been a CEO, no matter how terrible you were at it, you can apparently get another job as a CEO at some other company. Many are going to make the “only big money will attract the big talent” argument, but frankly, that does not fly for me. Clearly, the current method of paying CEOs has not guaranteed “the best and brightest”, so may as well move on to something a little better thought out. Everyone should get paid based on what they bring to the table. If a CEO ends up losing money for the company under their watch, they should not be making $25 Million. So what is the solution? We need to connect compensation to performance. A CEO in the U.S. auto industry should expect to make a base pay of say $1 Million (like their counterpart in Toyota for instance). However, a CEO could get a bonus based on the profits of the company. That way, the CEO who really does oversee a superior organization that improves its business will get rewarded for that good effort.
Lets not think that the problem only exists in the auto industry. What we see going on with the CEOs of the auto industry are the rule rather than the exception in the United States.
While being rewarded with no thought to the actual value you contribute may seem like a good idea to some (at least those who are benefiting from it), the reality is that in order to earn something of value (money in this case) you should be expected to contribute something of at least equal value. I think we can all agree that this should apply to the CEO situation, but folks like Nancy Pelosi need to understand that it should apply to ALL people – including those receiving a regular welfare check.
