No...
most are definately NOT overpaid. But sometimes, one does wonder why in 1 or 2 cases failure is rewarded. I've heard of payment deals with guaranteed bonuses (how can a bonus be guaranteed???). The role of a CEO should be neither underestimated nor overstated. You can't always blame a bad year on the economy or other external factors whilst you always take the credit for a good year.
Some are and some are not!
Are dish washers over paid?
Some are and some are not!
Blanket statements are wrong!
Williams presents two or three examples and then makes the blanket statement that CEOs are not overpaid. That is just as stupid as someone taking two or three examples and saying that they are.
At any given moment the CEO, you, and the guy who pours soup into his shoe on my subway platform is worth as much or a little as someone is willing to pay.
Considering they get bonuses even when they preform poorly, probably.
This is the private sector. Who was the man that had to resign from Fannie Mae because of an "accounting error" that misplaced billions and recieves a huge retirement? Raines? What is his name!?
Oh well, gotta go punch the clock.
As long as the answer is "Yes," then CEOs are overpaid.
From what I have seen, "Qualified" too often means "A buddy of the guys on the board," which is obviously a limited pool. After having seen several great companies completely wrecked by glaring incompetents, after seeing many cases in which there was no correlation between compensation and performance, to me the answer is obvious: Many if not most CEOs are hugely overpaid.
The David Packards of the world deserve every penny they get, but there are not many of those.
Yes...as are athletes, movie stars, liberal professors...on and on and on.....
Not unless the shareholders say the CEO is paid too much.
There's an old saying about all airline pilots make too much money except for the ones who are piloting the plane I'm riding on.
......if you aren't a stockholder, it's not your question to ask. If you are, tell the board what you think the CEO is worth.
Any other complaints are just paycheck envy.
The underlying problem is that we have all seen too much evidence that a megacorp CEO gets pretty much the same reward whether he turns a $14 billion corporation into a $500 billion one or turns a $500 billion corporation into a $14 billion one. Carly Fiorina's golden parachute (after she had to be kicked out before ruining what was left of HP) is but the latest of many examples.
Boards need to start exercising some disclipline rather than old-boy crony "capitalism", both for the good of their own companies and to restore public faith in the system generally.
There is a problem here, but it is not overpayment of CEO's per se. The problem is that CEO's and other managerial types in many cases no longer take their responsibility to shareholders seriously.
Jay Gould was vilified for saying 'The public be damned I work for my stockholders," but alas too many management types are working for themselves rather than their stockholders.
The fault really lies with the boards of directors which negotiate sweetheart deals with CEO's, CFO's and the like in which large pay packages are not tied to performance, and worse still, negotiate 'golden parchute' packages in which an utterly failed top manager is guaranteed of being bought out for huge sums after ruining the interests of the shareholders.
yes
What people get paid is none of our business. That said, yes. Most haven't a clue how to run a company. They are public figure heads, nothing more. Most do more damage to their respective companies than they help. Most companies succeed despite their CEOs.
It all depends on how much you value money.
You are supposed to feel sorry for CEO's because they fight for YOUR rights.