Paying Off the Corporate Freak Show

Readers of this blog might recall my general disgust for corporate senior management particularly the freak show one generally sees in the pharma industry. However, when it comes to compensation and bonus packages (not counting some of the more outrageous golden parachute deals), these people generally earn their money. Think about it for a minute, would you really want one of those jobs? Sure, it might be fun for the first week or so but I doubt any sane person with any kind of life outside of work would actually want one for the long haul. Most people realize this and that is why the candidate pool is so small and why corporate boards and share holders alike generally endorse these seemingly outrageous compensation packages.

And then there is the current situation with AIG bonuses. If I were one of those AIG employees, I would be polishing the glutes in anticipation of asking certain members of Congress just exactly which cheek they would like to kiss first.

As an ultimate irony, yesterday we were treated to the headline that the MIC fired the chairman of GM. That certainly is interesting. The last I heard, such actions were normally reserved for Boards of Directors. I guess there must have been a line authorizing this in one of the bail-out packages that no one at GM bothered to read before taking the money. How embarrassing, to be fired by a community organizer who never actually held down a real job in the public sector.

But here is the scary part; ".......Because starting today, the United States government will stand behind your warranty." Wow, that sure is comforting. I can see where that will save the American auto industry.

We've tried to be a "buy-American" family over the years and we currently own two Dodge vehicles, both nearly ten years old and each having over 150K miles. They were paid off early by the way. We are about to start shopping for one of their replacements. Needless to say I plan to go out of my way to look at Fords (assuming they continue not to accept bail out money) or better yet, a Toyota.