If you don't think that cutting a 27 second sound bite out of a speech is an attempt to take something out of context, then I guess we won't be seeing eye to eye on anything. I doubt you honestly believe this wasn't an attempt at doing so.

The part of the speech I found, wasn't part of the sound bite, it was just a intro that was saying we need to stop moving jobs over seas, McCains houses junk (I could care less if he had 50 honestly), and the $5 million rich part, which I do find a little discerning, but don't care too much about it either.

I tried, but could only find the republicut part.

Wal-Mart sells almost exclusively China-made products. Is it an outrage? No, at least not to most of America. Obama points out that companies like Wal-Mart would be attracted to China. Is this an outrage? All of a sudden, yes. Why? Because Obama said it. If Tom Delay made "an Inconvenient Truth" conservatives would be up in arms over global warming. This fake outrage is being made up only because Obama said it.

http://www.roanoke.com/editorials/commentary/wb/wb/xp-121645


Red ink and generous salaries

As the aptly named Cerberus (in Greek mythology, the "demon of the pit," "hound of Hades" ) picks over the corpse of Chrysler, it's a good time to reflect on the complete disconnect between auto industry CEO compensation and auto industry CEO performance.

While Chrysler was bleeding white to the tune of $1.6 billion (in 2006), corporate honcho Tom Lasorda raked in $5.2 million in salary. While Chrysler's earnings were plummeting, the pay of its chief officer was skyrocketing. How does that make sense, exactly?

GM's Rick Wagoner, meanwhile, got $10.2 million in 2006 -- the same year GM lost more than $2 billion.

It's even worse over at Ford.

CEO Alan Mulally took (use of the term "earned" seems offensive in this context) home $39.1 million for the four months' "work" he performed during 2006. This while Ford lost $12.7 billion -- the company's worst loss in its entire 104-year history. If Mulally gets canned, for whatever reason, his severance package is reportedly worth $27.5 million.

Meanwhile, out in the real world, when a regular working stiff doesn't live up to expectations -- or his work is shoddy -- he gets the boot. And unlike golden parachute CEOs, his severance package won't be enough to keep him in seven-figure comfort for the rest of his life, either. If he's lucky, he'll get two weeks' pay -- at most, perhaps a couple thousand bucks.

So where's the outrage?

How come no one's noticed, or seems to care, that the guys running the U.S. automobile industry into ruin are being compensated as though they'd somehow managed to turn their respective Titanics around? Probably no one would have a problem with an exec like Lasorda or Mulally carting home wheelbarrows of cash -- if the companies they headed were bringing in truckloads of boodle at the same time, market share was increasing and the lot of the average worker was improving at the same time. We're not Marxists, and most of us think a person who works hard and achieves great things deserves whatever he's paid.

It's not a question of "envy" or "hatred of the rich." It's revulsion at the iniquity of a system that rewards do-nothings and failures so gratuitously while shafting the average guy so mercilessly.

Today, the average corporate CEO takes home something like 500 times what the average worker earns. In the 1960s, when Detroit's Big Three were still profitable and together held more than 90 percent of the entire U.S. new car market, the ratio was a mere 40 times the average worker's pay.

Is there any possible scenario under which an executive who presides over billion-dollar losses can be said to have "earned" his compensation? The company loses market share, shareholder value plummets, jobs are decimated, but there are no consequences for the men at the top. Indeed, they are rewarded -- generously -- for their "services."

This kind of thing does not occur in Europe or Japan, it's worth pointing out. The German head of Daimler Ag (the parent company of what was, until recently, DaimlerChrysler) was paid a fraction of the compensation ladled out to Robert Eaton -- Chrysler muckety-muck at the time of the "merger of equals" -- whose total take topped $70 million in cash and stock. U.S. CEOs take in on the order of 22 times what their counterparts earn in Japan (and 17 times what their European counterparts are paid).

And let's not forget: Toyota and Honda (and Mercedes and BMW) actually make money selling cars. This is a distinction neither Chrysler nor Ford nor GM can claim at the present time.

Of course, life's not fair. "Connected" people have advantages and get material and other benefits that other people (even when more deserving) often don't. It's the way the world works. And our system allows it. Even encourages it.

That said, if we don't get a handle on this situation, the eventual results could involve more than the deaths of venerable brands like Chrysler, and even Ford and General Motors. At some point, millions of quietly screwed-over average people may tire of their lot and of having their faces rubbed in the undeserved riches heaped upon corporate losers while they struggle to keep the mortgage paid up and their families fed.

Our system is based on the implicit understanding that merit and work generally pay off and that incompetence and failure generally don't. When that ideal is upended, the public is going to become increasingly angry. Angry and economically dispossessed people tend to favor harsh solutions.

None of that is good for the country.

Not even if you're a retired auto industry CEO happily counting your ill-gotten booty in your Gross Pointe McMansion.

The suckers may decide someday they've finally had enough.


http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474977067637

Ford and Toyota -- A Modern Parable
July 26, 2007 05:54 PM EDT (Updated: July 26, 2007 05:55 PM EDT)
views: 1141 | rating: 10/10 (7 votes) | comments: 22
A Japanese company (Toyota) and an American company (General Motors) decided to have a canoe race on the Missouri River . Both teams practiced long and hard to reach their peak performance before the race. On the big day, the Japanese won by a mile.

The Americans, very discouraged and depressed, decided to investigate the reason for the crushing defeat. A management team made up of senior management was formed to investigate and recommend appropriate action.

Their conclusion was the Japanese had 8 people rowing and 1 person steering, while the American team had 8 people steering and 1 person rowing.

Feeling a deeper study was in order, American management hired a consulting company and paid them a large amount of money for a second opinion. They advised, of course, that too many people were steering the boat, while not enough people were r owing.

Not sure of how to utilize that information, but wanting to prevent another loss to the Japanese, the rowing team's management structure was totally reorganized to 4 steering supervisors, 3 area steering superintendents and 1 assistant superintendent steering manager. They also implemented a new performance system that would give the 1 person rowing the boat greater incentive to work harder. It was called the 'Rowing Team Quality First Program,' with meetings, dinners and free pens and a certificate of completion for the rower. There was discussion of getting new paddles, canoes and other equipment, extra vacation days for practices and bonuses. The next year the Japanese won by two miles.

Humiliated, the American management laid off the rower (a reduction in workforce) for poor performance, halted development of a new canoe, sold the paddles, and canceled all capital investments for new equipment. The money saved was distributed to the Senior Executive s as bonuses and the next year's racing team was "out-sourced" to India... Sadly, the End.

However, sad, but oh so true! Here's something else to think about: Ford has spent the last thirty years moving all its factories out of the US, claiming they can't make money paying American wages. Toyota has spent the last thirty years building more than a dozen plants inside the US.

Fiscal 2006 results: Toyota makes $11 billion in profits while Ford racked up $12.6 billion in losses. Ford folks are still scratching their heads.

IF THIS WASN'T SO SAD IT MIGHT BE FUNNY!

quote:

Originally posted by Dawg57:
ROFLMAO. The problem with Weiner

Is that he's so right all the time he simply blows your mind!!!
Are the ROFLMAO keys getting worn out on your keyboard yet.

quote:

Originally posted by weinerdog:

quote:

Originally posted by Dawg57:
ROFLMAO. The problem with Weiner

Is that he's so right all the time he simply blows your mind!!!
Are the ROFLMAO keys getting worn out on your keyboard yet.

ROFLMAO! Right A2A!

quote:

Originally posted by loyalfan:
While Chrysler was bleeding white to the tune of $1.6 billion (in 2006), corporate honcho Tom Lasorda raked in $5.2 million in salary. While Chrysler's earnings were plummeting, the pay of its chief officer was skyrocketing. How does that make sense, exactly?

GM's Rick Wagoner, meanwhile, got $10.2 million in 2006 -- the same year GM lost more than $2 billion.

It's even worse over at Ford.

CEO Alan Mulally took (use of the term "earned" seems offensive in this context) home $39.1 million for the four months' "work" he performed during 2006. This while Ford lost $12.7 billion -- the company's worst loss in its entire 104-year history. If Mulally gets canned, for whatever reason, his severance package is reportedly worth $27.5 million.

Nader is one of the few candidates who states that this profiteering is wrong.

quote:

Originally posted by SirTophamHatt:
Wal-Mart sells almost exclusively China-made products. Is it an outrage? No, at least not to most of America. Obama points out that companies like Wal-Mart would be attracted to China. Is this an outrage? All of a sudden, yes. Why? Because Obama said it. If Tom Delay made "an Inconvenient Truth" conservatives would be up in arms over global warming. This fake outrage is being made up only because Obama said it.

If every person who complained about Chinese goods would just boycott them the problems would be solved.

We are the most ignorant consumers in the world. For most Americans buying a Honda that was assembled in Ohio is bad and buying a Canadian-made Ford is good. We complain about gas prices, yet commute 50 miles a day in SUV's passing bus lines the whole way. We drive passed our local produce stand and head to a grocery store for more expensive produce that has been shipped from 2000 miles away.

Sad part is we vote the same way we shop: "Whatever the TV tells us to do"

My wife and I were watching the "Redeem Team" play Spain last weekend and the commentators said that the players seemed to be slipping a lot in the paint and she said it was probably because it was lead based.
She makes me laugh.

^^^That is funny weiner, how many years have you two been married?

33 years and she still lets me in the house. She's a good woman. Nobody sent more emails to the NFL in 1996 than she did.

^^^ Sounds like she may be a keeper