We live in a world with a odd sense of worth when the CEO of HP trashed the values that built a business from garage to multinational corporation, laid off thousands of workers, devalued the worth of the company, and got a lovely 21 million dollar parting gift.
There is no objective measure of "worth". When did CEOs become worth millions, even the bad ones, while the janitor, even a good one isn't worth the pay to keep himself and family fed clothed, decently housed in a safe neighborhood, healthy, and maybe even plan a vacation?
When that business is not able to compete in the marketplace any longer, then nobody has any income from that business any more! It literally is that serious. Businesses of all sizes go under every day because their management are not able to keep costs under control. When that happens, every employee loses all the pay they were getting.
Yes, the race to the bottom. Walmart builds a super store, pays poor wages, sells for less and pretty soon competing businesses are forced to cut benefits and pay less too. Unfortunately, the employee's rent, car, gas for his car, utility bills, medical care continue to rise. He may be able to buy cheap clothes, shoes, TVs, and VCRs, but his expenses related to keeping a roof over his head, transportation to work, and staying well are becoming increasingly out of his reach.
I couldn't agree more! When you get up to the top executive levels, the more solid laws of economics fly out the window for the misty black arts. Way up there, it's all about politics, reputation, favors, etc.. Corporations are frequently harmed by clueless MBA dweebs who haven't a clue what their company does, yet they are paid staggering sums for their trouble. Worse yet, they are almost universally so arrogant -- after all, they have an MBA -- that they refuse to learn anything either! It's baffling to me how boards of directors put up with such expensive managerial BS as these. Perhaps it's the "birds of a feather" syndrome. :-/
Corporations are frequently forced to re-learn the fact that management is overhead! They are an expense to the company, with no direct production benefit. Unless they significantly contribute toward making the direct producers of the company work better than they would without them, and thereby bringing some value to the party, they shouldn't be there at all.
In my opinion, many CEOs bring no value to their companies whatsoever. They are simply a big expense for the corporation to pay.