Too often used by shills and whores. I'd gladly run GM into the ground just as much as these clowns for a mere "pennies on the dollar" of what they're getting paid. And Carly Fiorina destroyed tens of billions of shareholder value at Lucent and HP, but still walked away with a seven-figure severance package...
Very true, and it is unfortunate when it happens. At times it may be the result of nepotism and favoritism leading to bad hiring decisions, but at times I suspect it is just a bad gamble. There's a reason someone like Fiorina got to where she was--she obviously has some significant talent. In retrospect, through, she was very ill-suited to a company like HP, and probably not worth what they paid her. On the other hand, a company that never took management risks and always hired "bargain" executives would probably do even worse in the long run.