Posted on 11/25/2008 2:48:10 PM PST by jazusamo
There is an old Russian fable, with different versions in other countries, about two poor peasants, Ivan and Boris. The only difference between them was that Boris had a goat and Ivan didn't. One day, Ivan came upon a strange-looking lamp and, when he rubbed it, a genie appeared. She told him that she could grant him just one wish, but it could be anything in the world.
Ivan said, "I want Boris' goat to die."
Variations on this story in other countries suggest that this tells us something about human beings, not just Russians.
It may tell us something painful about many Americans today, when so many people are preoccupied with the pay of corporate CEOs. It is not that the corporate CEOs' pay affects them so much. If every oil company executive in America agreed to work for nothing, that would not be enough to lower the price of a gallon of gasoline by a dime. If every General Motors executive agreed to work for nothing, that would not lower the price of a Cadillac or a Chevrolet by one percent.
Too many people are like Ivan, who wanted Boris' goat to die.
It is not even that the average corporate CEO makes as much money as any number of professional athletes and entertainers. The average pay of a CEO of a corporation big enough to be included in the Standard & Poor's index is less than one-third of what Alex Rodriguez makes, about one-tenth of what Tiger Woods makes and less than one-thirtieth of what Oprah Winfrey makes.
But when has anyone ever accused athletes or entertainers of "greed"?
It is not the general public that singles out corporate CEOs for so much attention. Politicians and the media have focused on business leaders, and the public has been led along, like sheep.
The logic is simple: Demonize those whose place or power you plan to usurp.
Politicians who want the power to micro-manage business and the economy know that demonizing those who currently run businesses is the opening salvo in the battle to take over their roles.
There is no way that politicians can take over the roles of Alex Rodriguez, Tiger Woods or Oprah Winfrey. So they can make any amount of money they want and it doesn't matter politically.
Those who want more power have known for centuries that giving the people somebody to hate and fear is the key.
In 18th century France, promoting hatred of the aristocracy was the key to Robespierre's acquiring more dictatorial power than the aristocracy had ever had, and using that power to create a bigger bloodbath than anything under the old regime.
In the 20th century, it was both the czars and the capitalists in Russia who were made the targets of public hatred by the Communists on their road to power. That power created more havoc in the lives of more people than czars and capitalists ever had combined.
As in other countries and other times, today it is not just a question of which elites win out in a tug of war in America. It is the people at large who have the most at stake.
We have just seen one of the biggest free home demonstrations of what happens in an economy when politicians tell businesses what decisions to make.
For years, using the powers of the Community Reinvestment Act and other regulatory powers, along with threats of legal action if the loan approval rates varied from the population profile, politicians have pressured banks and other lending institutions into lending to people they would not lend to otherwise.
Yet, when all this blows up in our faces and the economy turns down, what is the answer? To have more economic decisions made by politicians, because they choose to say that "deregulation" is the cause of our problems.
Regardless of how much suffocating regulation may have been responsible for an economic debacle, politicians have learned that they can get away with it if they call it "deregulation."
No matter what happens, for politicians it is "heads I win and tails you lose." If we keep listening to the politicians and their media allies, we are all going to keep losing, big time. Keeping our attention focused on CEO pay— Boris' goat— is all part of this game. We are all goats if we fall for it.
This is why Thomas Sowell isn’t allowed on national TV.
He makes the stooges look like the fools they are.
true indeed
“This is why Thomas Sowell isn’t allowed on national TV.”
As the lefties call him, “Uncle Thomas”
If a corporate executive makes 100 million dollars a year, I could care less, unless that corporate executive happens to be standing before congress begging for tax dollars to keep his stupid company afloat. In that case, I want his goat to die.
Agreed, and it’s why politicians and elitists ignore him.
I, for one, accuse some professional athletes of being greedy. They, and the team owners, want the taxpayers to build their stadiums. If the stadiums were paid for by the team owners, who would then adjust the players’ salaries accordingly, they would not be greedy for wanting to earn whatever the market will pay. When the taxpayers pay for the stadiums, then the market is perverted.
It is not greed to make a lot of money entertaining people. It is greed when they force taxpayers to provide the entertainment venues and thus subsidize the salaries.
I’m with you. If his company is tanking, he’s responsible, not taxpayers.
I don’t have a problem with what an executive makes either. So long as they are actually worth that. I can’t imagine the Ford and GM stock holders think they are getting a good deal on their execs currently.
Good point...I’m against taxpayers footing the bill for stadiums and high salaries have caused some teams to be moved.
Here's something that I still don't fully understand.
There are so very many of these "media allies" that there must be a few that ultimately get fed up, and might want to make several million writing a grand political exposé (detailing the covalent bond between media and Democratic politicians.)
Mustn't there be?
.
There is an old Russian fable, with different versions in other countries, about two poor peasants, Ivan and Boris. The only difference between them was that Boris had a goat and Ivan didn't. One day, Ivan came upon a strange-looking lamp and, when he rubbed it, a genie appeared. She told him that she could grant him just one wish, but it could be anything in the world.
Ivan said, "I want Boris' goat to die."
A better analogy for the big three car companies would be Boris has been abusing his goat for a long time and now wants to stick me with its vet bills, so I wish Ivan would die and the goat could have a better owner.
The average pay of a CEO of a corporation big enough to be included in the Standard & Poor's index is less than one-third of what Alex Rodriguez makes, about one-tenth of what Tiger Woods makes and less than one-thirtieth of what Oprah Winfrey makes.
One huge difference. Woods and Winfrey both make their money based on their own skills. If Tiger decided that under par golf took too much work and aimed at a +5 score every round, his pay would drop like a rock. Similarly if Oprah lost her audience, her ad revenue and pay would drop. Corporate CEOs never seem to have that problem. Lose a billion a month and other CEOs on your company's compensation committee will decide you need a big raise. And guess what - since you are sitting on their compensation committees you vote on them getting big raises too at the expense of their shareholders. Sorry, CEO pay is just way to incestuous for my taste. I don't want government to get involved, but don't ask me to cheer for it as the ultimate meritocracy. Performance and reward have been completely divorced.
Then when those same CEOs come and rattle their tin cups and demand that I pay them a few tens or hundreds of billions to cover their failures, don't ask me to just comply quietly. That is what bankruptcy court is there for, to decide whether your creditors would be better off coming to more agreeable payment terms or selling your assets and closing your doors. Just as I felt the right, no the duty to complain about how welfare queens lived their lives on my dime and tell them to straighten up before they get money, I feel a million times more vehement about it for the gigawelfare queens of corporate America.
Anyone with a modicum of common sense knows this is true. The problem we have now is that those who have seized power do not want to change things.
Do they think that if some other bozo was running the company they'd be loosing 3 billion dollars a month?
You’d think so but there’s never been a big name come out and try it that I know of, I suppose their lberal roots are just too deep.
Sowell is fantastic, of course. And I agree with much of what he says.
But I do have a little problem with what he says in the citation above. It's becoming clear that the most important contributing factor to the financial meltdown did grow out of a "deregulated," or at least improperly regulated, segment of the financial markets, i.e., the 30 year old derivative markets, most especially Mortgage Backed Securities (MBS) and the even newer financial instruments, Collateralized Debt Obligations (CDO). The side markets that investment banks created to profit from these derivatives, when mixed with stable or falling home prices, eventually undermined the entire economy.
For an enlightening examination of the topic, read Michael Lewis' piece in Portfolio, which can be found here.
Sowell does it again.
Why couldn’t he be the first black president?
Yeah, I know. He’s too smart.
Thomas Sowell/Walter Williams 2012
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