Posted on 12/29/2006 12:13:05 PM PST by shrinkermd
Perhaps it is one of the fruits of the self-esteem emphasis in our schools that so many people feel confident to voice strong convictions about things they know little or nothing about or, worse yet, are misinformed about.
One of the hardest things for anyone to be informed about is the value of someone elses productivity. Yet there are cries from all directions that some people are being paid too much and others too little. Judging Worth
Who can possibly be better informed about the value of what someone else produces than those who use the goods or services that the person provides and pay for them with their own money?
Things are worth it or not worth it to particular individuals. What these things might be worth to somebody else is irrelevant.
People who think that they, or the government, ought to be deciding how much income people make are in effect saying that they know the value of peoples output better than those who use that output and pay for it with their own money.
(Excerpt) Read more at epaper.investors.com ...
And to tie Tiger into it, there are tournaments on foreign tours, especially in Asia, that will pay him to come and play. And what they pay him is in excess of what he would earn if he won the tournament.
Just having him in the field brings in the ticket sales and ad revenue from TV for these tournaments.
Maybe. How advertising works is a pure mystery to me.
How advertising works is a pure mystery to me.
How so?
If they wanted the luxury boxes and amenities that go with them, they can be bought for far less. Corporate tents are all over the course at PGA events of any size and importance.
I don't get how they get millions and millions of benefit out of it.
I didn't say anything about "making" people take less, or using government to limit what people make.
Public opinion does count for something, and that was my point.
You take the guys you are doing business to the events. It builds good will and gives you an advantage with customers/clients. Public relations people use the passes to "bribe" press for a favorable news story.
Stuff link that.
No doubt. If they knew what's required to become a CEO, they'd think differently. First you'd need to attend a first class university and graduate in the top of your class. Then you'll need to establish yourself with a good company and work ungodly hours proving your worth. At some point in this process you'll need to attend grad school, in your free time, all the while clawing your way through the ranks at the expense of your family, personal time and health. Most people who live and work this cutthroat life never end up as CEO's or even senior managers. Of course, you could always start your own company to become a CEO. Everyone knows just how easy taking that route can be.
CEO type compensation is one reason why American companies can attract the best talent. All the guys who run our foreign business units came from foreign companies. They are thrilled to be working for an American company mostly because the compensation is so good but also because they don't have to deal with so much bureaucracy and interference. The only thing they complain about are the insane hours and the intense pressure to perform.
Not exactly the country club life so many envision.
The sports sponsorship stuff is just a cheap way to build good will among people you need to build good will among.
Same as a business dinner, only a lot more expensive.
The ads now are so targeted that unless you're in the demographic, you have no idea what they're selling. The Ford commercial that details a hundred years of truck history is as opaque to the average NYer as the magazine ad for Comme des Garcon Guerrilla is to a guy in Montana.
Sorry, Thomas, but when Pfizer pays a departing CEO a $180 million bonus and the price of prescription drugs is so high people have to go out of the country to get them, someone's salary is too high.
Ted Kennedy, John Kerry, etc. etc....:)
Read in today's Dallas Morning News that J.C. Penney's newest COO (on the job less than a year) was *hit canned yesterday and received a $10,000,000 "golden parachute" to get the heck out of Plano (Texas). I can see Penney's building from my office... I bet there a lot of career Penney corporate folks grumbling today (this COO was an outsider that honed her "skills" in the non-retail corporate world). Me thinks Penneys learned a very costly lesson over this.
I didn't say they got millions and millions of benefit, I said it cost them millions and millions. Which in turn must generate millions in benefits to be worth while though.
As you said, you don't understand advertising.
But, that being the case, why would McDonalds spend tens of millions of dollars on TV commercials? The same reason that SAS sponsors a Champions Tour event. The same reason that Nationwide sponsors the Nationwide Tour. To increase sales and revenue. Just a different road on the same map.
I think athletes are more reasonably paid than CEOs. With athletes there is a direct correlation between success and compensation and you can clearly see how much money their efforts are generating. CEOs (of the ultra-high paid, hired gun type) tend to be paid hugely whether or not they perform and hired based on guesswork about whether their previous success was due to luck, situation or talent.
How about when Lee Raymond left Exxon/Mobil and people complained about his $400 million retirement package. People tried to tie this into the high price of gas. But as we should always do, but rarely do, someone ran the numbers.
If every penny was taken from Raymond and applied to reducing the price of gas at the pump, the price for Exxon/Mobil gas would have fallen LESS than ONE PENNY!
Now, I don't have access to nor do I know of any way to find out. But find out how many "pills" Phizer produces, along with "injections" and other devliery devices. Take that total number and lets see how much per unit you get vs. $180 million.
I suspect you will find that the number is less than 1 penny.
would have fallen LESS than ONE PENNY!
Maybe I'm tinged from having worked at two different huge multinationals whose names you'd recognize instantly. They were both corrupt at the American top level. I don't know what they were like at HQ overseas.
The price of drugs is too high in part because of the FDA, but to my mind no one is worth what the Pfizer head got as a going away present.
Maybe, maybe not. But thats the free market. I hope you don't advocate government control over what people can be paid?
Sure, it would start out only affecting the very high dollar CEOs and the such, but soon it would be affecting everyone.
Plus that's an inane comparison. How many cents/share is that $400,000,000? What fraction of the dividend Exxon/Mobil payed out that year is $400,000?
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