How the system is rigged. A tale of CEO's.

[alan1]

We all know that the average person is screwed when it comes to becoming one of those hugely wealthy CEO's of a company. The media and the liberals (redundancy alert) tell us so.
You and I and everybody else is screwed by a rigged system that prevents us from becoming wealthy and enjoying success.
If you don't believe me, just look at these examples of CEO's.

Jim Skinner. Former CEO of McDonalds. He never graduated college and started his career at McDonalds as a manager trainee.
Brian Dunn. Former CEO of Best Buy. He never attended college and started his career at Best Buy as a salesman.
Jack Welch. Son of a railroad conductor. He became the CEO of GE.
Bill Gates. College dropout and founder/CEO of Microsoft.
Steve Jobs. College dropout and founder/CEO of Apple. He was adopted by a middle class family.
Rodney McMullen. CEO of Kroger, the second largest retail company in America. He was born on a family farm and started at Kroger as a stock clerk.
Fred DeLuca. Founder and CEO of Subway. He borrowed $1000 to start the company that now has more resturaunts worldwide than any other resturaunt.
Doug McMillon. Doug started as a summer seasonal employee in a Walmart warehouse when he was a teenager. He is now the CEO of the largest company in the world, WalMart.

Oh wait, I meant we all have the opportunity.

Those opportunities do not exist anymore. All of these stories begin pre-80s or earlier. This does not happen anymore. All those CEO positions are just handed to the next millionaire/billionaire. Small business has little chance these days because all the needs to derail them is a Walmart moving into town. If you have a great idea, you will be pressured to sell it off or face the wrath of wealthy men who will use their political and legal connections to force you out.

In my town, I just watched a 30-year business—a locally owned laundromat—get forced out of their space so a Quick Check can expand their store. They were not offered relocation money, they were not offered any compensation, they were just forced out by their landlord and sent packing. Now they lose 60k per year in income.

That is the reality of our future. There will be no such thing as small business, it will all be corporate-owned one day and we will be enslaved to MNCs and banks for all of our needs as they erode our rights by monopolizing policy in our corrupt Congress. This is what unregulated capitalism gives us.

Actually, all of them didn't.
Doug McMillon started with WalMart in 1984.
Brian Dunn started with Best Buy in 1985.

Honestly, I would expect a CEO to have quite a few years of work experience before taking over the head position at a large corporation.

 

[Rshermr]

We all know that the average person is screwed when it comes to becoming one of those hugely wealthy CEO's of a company. The media and the liberals (redundancy alert) tell us so.
You and I and everybody else is screwed by a rigged system that prevents us from becoming wealthy and enjoying success.
If you don't believe me, just look at these examples of CEO's.

Jim Skinner. Former CEO of McDonalds. He never graduated college and started his career at McDonalds as a manager trainee.
Brian Dunn. Former CEO of Best Buy. He never attended college and started his career at Best Buy as a salesman.
Jack Welch. Son of a railroad conductor. He became the CEO of GE.
Bill Gates. College dropout and founder/CEO of Microsoft.
Steve Jobs. College dropout and founder/CEO of Apple. He was adopted by a middle class family.
Rodney McMullen. CEO of Kroger, the second largest retail company in America. He was born on a family farm and started at Kroger as a stock clerk.
Fred DeLuca. Founder and CEO of Subway. He borrowed $1000 to start the company that now has more resturaunts worldwide than any other resturaunt.
Doug McMillon. Doug started as a summer seasonal employee in a Walmart warehouse when he was a teenager. He is now the CEO of the largest company in the world, WalMart.

Oh wait, I meant we all have the opportunity.

Those opportunities do not exist anymore. All of these stories begin pre-80s or earlier. This does not happen anymore. All those CEO positions are just handed to the next millionaire/billionaire. Small business has little chance these days because all the needs to derail them is a Walmart moving into town. If you have a great idea, you will be pressured to sell it off or face the wrath of wealthy men who will use their political and legal connections to force you out.

In my town, I just watched a 30-year business—a locally owned laundromat—get forced out of their space so a Quick Check can expand their store. They were not offered relocation money, they were not offered any compensation, they were just forced out by their landlord and sent packing. Now they lose 60k per year in income.

That is the reality of our future. There will be no such thing as small business, it will all be corporate-owned one day and we will be enslaved to MNCs and banks for all of our needs as they erode our rights by monopolizing policy in our corrupt Congress. This is what unregulated capitalism gives us.

Actually, all of them didn't.
Doug McMillon started with WalMart in 1984.
Brian Dunn started with Best Buy in 1985.

Honestly, I would expect a CEO to have quite a few years of work experience before taking over the head position at a large corporation.

Wow. That is a long list. 2.
What is that, something like .000000000001% or so??
What point is it that you are trying to prove?

 

[alan1]

We all know that the average person is screwed when it comes to becoming one of those hugely wealthy CEO's of a company. The media and the liberals (redundancy alert) tell us so.
You and I and everybody else is screwed by a rigged system that prevents us from becoming wealthy and enjoying success.
If you don't believe me, just look at these examples of CEO's.

Jim Skinner. Former CEO of McDonalds. He never graduated college and started his career at McDonalds as a manager trainee.
Brian Dunn. Former CEO of Best Buy. He never attended college and started his career at Best Buy as a salesman.
Jack Welch. Son of a railroad conductor. He became the CEO of GE.
Bill Gates. College dropout and founder/CEO of Microsoft.
Steve Jobs. College dropout and founder/CEO of Apple. He was adopted by a middle class family.
Rodney McMullen. CEO of Kroger, the second largest retail company in America. He was born on a family farm and started at Kroger as a stock clerk.
Fred DeLuca. Founder and CEO of Subway. He borrowed $1000 to start the company that now has more resturaunts worldwide than any other resturaunt.
Doug McMillon. Doug started as a summer seasonal employee in a Walmart warehouse when he was a teenager. He is now the CEO of the largest company in the world, WalMart.

Oh wait, I meant we all have the opportunity.

Those opportunities do not exist anymore. All of these stories begin pre-80s or earlier. This does not happen anymore. All those CEO positions are just handed to the next millionaire/billionaire. Small business has little chance these days because all the needs to derail them is a Walmart moving into town. If you have a great idea, you will be pressured to sell it off or face the wrath of wealthy men who will use their political and legal connections to force you out.

In my town, I just watched a 30-year business—a locally owned laundromat—get forced out of their space so a Quick Check can expand their store. They were not offered relocation money, they were not offered any compensation, they were just forced out by their landlord and sent packing. Now they lose 60k per year in income.

That is the reality of our future. There will be no such thing as small business, it will all be corporate-owned one day and we will be enslaved to MNCs and banks for all of our needs as they erode our rights by monopolizing policy in our corrupt Congress. This is what unregulated capitalism gives us.

Also, the ratio between pay for CEOs and workers has increased 1000% since about 1950. This data is freely available. Your average Fortune 500 CEO makes 204 times more than regular workers. This ratio has increased from 20-to-1 in 1950, to 42-to-1 in 1980, and 120-to-1 in 2000.

This should demonstrate that marginal productivity theory is nonsense. I still can't wrap me head around the absurd idea supported by some people that these CEOs deserve their salaries because of their marginal contributions to production.

In 1955 GM had 576,667 employees.
In 1955 U.S, Steel had 268,142 employees.
In 1955 General Electric had 210,151 employees.
In 1955 Chrysler had 167,813 employees.
in 1955 ?Standard Oil of New Jersey had 155,000 employees.

Those were the five largest employers in 1955.

Today, these are the 5 largest employers,

Walmart, 2,100,000 employees.
IBM, 410,830 employees.
UPS, 408,000 employees.
Target, 351,000 employees.
Kroger, 334,000 employees.

Only 1 of the top five in 1955 would still be in the top five today, but GM now only employs 204,000.

I'd hazard a guess that CEO's make more now than they did in 1955 because the companies are larger, which means the CEO has more responsibility. Also, over the past almost 6 decades wages have risen.
Additionally, compensation for most CEO's includes stock options with a vesting period and bonus based upon company performance. If they drive the value of the company up over time (thus increasing the stock price), they make more money.

While I can lament that this year the company I work for will not be paying a company performance bonus to me, it also will not be paying a bonus to the CEO because we are not hitting our goals. That's about $10k for me in lost salary and about $4M in lost salary for the CEO. But then, a bonus is not a guaranteed payout and I know that. Also, the stock price hasn't gone up year over year, so his stock options for the past two years are currently worthless.
The good news is, I'm on a two tiered bonus program, so I do have one bonus that is guaranteed based on longevity with the company and my pay grade. The longevity bonus is not paid to people three pay grades or more above mine (or people three pay grades below mine). Yeah, that means executives don't have the guaranteed longevity bonus I get.

I work for a Fortune 500 company. Times have been tough. The CEO is going to make less money this year than he did last year. And last year he made less than the year before because of poor bonus payout. I'll make about the same this year as I did last year (despite the missing second bonus) and I made more last year than the year before because of the longevity bonus.

 

[alan1]

Those opportunities do not exist anymore. All of these stories begin pre-80s or earlier. This does not happen anymore. All those CEO positions are just handed to the next millionaire/billionaire. Small business has little chance these days because all the needs to derail them is a Walmart moving into town. If you have a great idea, you will be pressured to sell it off or face the wrath of wealthy men who will use their political and legal connections to force you out.

In my town, I just watched a 30-year business—a locally owned laundromat—get forced out of their space so a Quick Check can expand their store. They were not offered relocation money, they were not offered any compensation, they were just forced out by their landlord and sent packing. Now they lose 60k per year in income.

That is the reality of our future. There will be no such thing as small business, it will all be corporate-owned one day and we will be enslaved to MNCs and banks for all of our needs as they erode our rights by monopolizing policy in our corrupt Congress. This is what unregulated capitalism gives us.

Actually, all of them didn't.
Doug McMillon started with WalMart in 1984.
Brian Dunn started with Best Buy in 1985.

Honestly, I would expect a CEO to have quite a few years of work experience before taking over the head position at a large corporation.

Wow. That is a long list. 2.
What is that, something like .000000000001% or so??
What point is it that you are trying to prove?

I merely provided a few examples from large corporations that had CEO's that started with humble beginnings. I don't have the time to research every Fortune 500 company.
TheJedi said,

All of these stories begin pre-80s or earlier.

But in actuality, 20% of my examples were post 1980. He was wrong and you are wrong when it comes to reality and percentages.

 

[rdean]

We all know that the average person is screwed when it comes to becoming one of those hugely wealthy CEO's of a company. The media and the liberals (redundancy alert) tell us so.
You and I and everybody else is screwed by a rigged system that prevents us from becoming wealthy and enjoying success.
If you don't believe me, just look at these examples of CEO's.

Jim Skinner. Former CEO of McDonalds. He never graduated college and started his career at McDonalds as a manager trainee.
Brian Dunn. Former CEO of Best Buy. He never attended college and started his career at Best Buy as a salesman.
Jack Welch. Son of a railroad conductor. He became the CEO of GE.
Bill Gates. College dropout and founder/CEO of Microsoft.
Steve Jobs. College dropout and founder/CEO of Apple. He was adopted by a middle class family.
Rodney McMullen. CEO of Kroger, the second largest retail company in America. He was born on a family farm and started at Kroger as a stock clerk.
Fred DeLuca. Founder and CEO of Subway. He borrowed $1000 to start the company that now has more resturaunts worldwide than any other resturaunt.
Doug McMillon. Doug started as a summer seasonal employee in a Walmart warehouse when he was a teenager. He is now the CEO of the largest company in the world, WalMart.

Oh wait, I meant we all have the opportunity.

Some of the, like Gates, actually look back and help those less lucky and less fortunate.

Among the 254 counties where food stamp recipients doubled between 2007 and 2011, Republican Mitt Romney won 213 of them in the last presidential election. And I thought Republicans were all about "self reliance", not being the biggest welfare queens in the country.

 

[Rshermr]

I'd hazard a guess that CEO's make more now than they did in 1955 because the companies are larger, which means the CEO has more responsibility.

Nonsence. And it explains nothing about the fact that us ceo's are paid 2 to 10 times what ceo's in other countries are paid.

Also, over the past almost 6 decades wages have risen.

Uh, very little for workers as compared to ceo's . VERY LITTLE.

Additionally, compensation for most CEO's includes stock options with a vesting period and bonus based upon company performance. If they drive the value of the company up over time (thus increasing the stock price), they make more money.

Stock options, yes. Vesting period, sometimes. Often very little in terms of time. Also, if you look, you will see excellent (for them) golden parachutes if they get fired. Kinda forgot that, eh??

I work for a Fortune 500 company. Times have been tough. The CEO is going to make less money this year than he did last year. And last year he made less than the year before because of poor bonus payout.

If you work for a fortune 500 company, your ceo is making millions yearly. But if the company does badly enough, he will get fired and then, if you check, you will see the big payoff. So, if I were you, I would not worry much about the ceo. He is set for life. The workers, on the other hand, are on average set for a month. See the issue yet??

 

[Rshermr]

Actually, all of them didn't.
Doug McMillon started with WalMart in 1984.
Brian Dunn started with Best Buy in 1985.

Honestly, I would expect a CEO to have quite a few years of work experience before taking over the head position at a large corporation.

Wow. That is a long list. 2.
What is that, something like .000000000001% or so??
What point is it that you are trying to prove?

I merely provided a few examples from large corporations that had CEO's that started with humble beginnings. I don't have the time to research every Fortune 500 company.
TheJedi said,

All of these stories begin pre-80s or earlier.

But in actuality, 20% of my examples were post 1980. He was wrong and you are wrong when it comes to reality and percentages.

That would be your opinion. I hope you understand how much I respect your opinion.

 

[alan1]

Wow. That is a long list. 2.
What is that, something like .000000000001% or so??
What point is it that you are trying to prove?

I merely provided a few examples from large corporations that had CEO's that started with humble beginnings. I don't have the time to research every Fortune 500 company.
TheJedi said,

All of these stories begin pre-80s or earlier.

But in actuality, 20% of my examples were post 1980. He was wrong and you are wrong when it comes to reality and percentages.

That would be your opinion. I hope you understand how much I respect your opinion.

Actually, my example of 20% post 1980 VS TheJedi claiming it was all pre-1980 is a fact, not an opinion.
After your latest post, I do understand how much you respect facts.

 

[alan1]

I'd hazard a guess that CEO's make more now than they did in 1955 because the companies are larger, which means the CEO has more responsibility.

Nonsence. And it explains nothing about the fact that us ceo's are paid 2 to 10 times what ceo's in other countries are paid.

Also, over the past almost 6 decades wages have risen.

Uh, very little for workers as compared to ceo's . VERY LITTLE.

Additionally, compensation for most CEO's includes stock options with a vesting period and bonus based upon company performance. If they drive the value of the company up over time (thus increasing the stock price), they make more money.

Stock options, yes. Vesting period, sometimes. Often very little in terms of time. Also, if you look, you will see excellent (for them) golden parachutes if they get fired. Kinda forgot that, eh??

I work for a Fortune 500 company. Times have been tough. The CEO is going to make less money this year than he did last year. And last year he made less than the year before because of poor bonus payout.

If you work for a fortune 500 company, your ceo is making millions yearly. But if the company does badly enough, he will get fired and then, if you check, you will see the big payoff. So, if I were you, I would not worry much about the ceo. He is set for life. The workers, on the other hand, are on average set for a month. See the issue yet??

I really don't care what CEO's in other countries are paid.
Maybe for you, I'm a worker and my salary has increased dramatically over the past 5-7-10-15-20 years
OK, now lets talk about the .0000000001 percent. Yeah, that would be the ones with a golden parachute. I don't give a shit if they get a fat severance package. The fact that you do indicates jealousy.
Maybe the workers need to put themselves into a position that lasts longer than a month if they get fired. I'd suggest not living beyond their means. I got downsized (laid off/fired) 8 years ago from a company I had been with for 18 years. I went on a one month vacation before I started looking for work, because I don't live beyond my means.

Whiners and snivelers complain about what somebody else has or earns or gets instead of focusing on improving their own lot in life.

 

[Rshermr]

I merely provided a few examples from large corporations that had CEO's that started with humble beginnings. I don't have the time to research every Fortune 500 company.
TheJedi said,

But in actuality, 20% of my examples were post 1980. He was wrong and you are wrong when it comes to reality and percentages.

That would be your opinion. I hope you understand how much I respect your opinion.

Actually, my example of 20% post 1980 VS TheJedi claiming it was all pre-1980 is a fact, not an opinion.
After your latest post, I do understand how much you respect facts.

Facts I respect. You on the other hand, not so much. What fact of mine are you doubting, me girl. Careful.

 

[Rshermr]

OK, now lets talk about the .0000000001 percent. Yeah, that would be the ones with a golden parachute. I don't give a shit if they get a fat severance package. The fact that you do indicates jealousy.

Now, now, me con tool. You know very, very little. If you can find a fortune 500 ceo without a golden parachute, that would be a surprise. And jealousy??? No, I just care about the middle class. Which you do not. Please, me girl, do not talk about your great success, it really does not impress me. I suspect I could buy and sell you, but my relative success has NOTHING to do with the fact that millions of workers have seen very very little increase in their wages. Regardless of the fact that their productivity has increased dramatically.

Here are a few examples from just ONE medium huge corporation, Time Warner:
Marcus's annual compensation package under the contract he signed last year would have been $6.5 million in salary and cash bonus, and $9.5 million in stock grants. So the $79.9 million package comes out to nearly five year's worth of minimum compensation. But about half of the value of that parachute is due to the immediate vesting of restricted stock and options he had received in the past when he held other positions with the company. He became CEO on Jan. 1 after serving as its president.
Arthur Minson, chief financial officer, will get a $27.1 million parachute, while Michael LaJoie, the chief technology officer, gets $16.3 million, while Philip Meeks, the chief operating officer, gets. $11.7 million.
http://money.cnn.com/2014/03/21/news/companies/time-warner-cable-golden-parachute/

That is just one company. And, me poor ignorant con, there is this thing called google. Look around under the term golden parachute, and you will be amazed. Let me know where I can send the bill for your education.

 

[alan1]

Some of the, like Gates, actually look back and help those less lucky and less fortunate.

Among the 254 counties where food stamp recipients doubled between 2007 and 2011, Republican Mitt Romney won 213 of them in the last presidential election. And I thought Republicans were all about "self reliance", not being the biggest welfare queens in the country.

I'm not a republican. I'm registered as "Unaffiliated".
I don't care about Mitt Romney or Barack Obama or you. Every one of you (politically) is about as useful as tits on a boar hog.

 

[alan1]

OK, now lets talk about the .0000000001 percent. Yeah, that would be the ones with a golden parachute. I don't give a shit if they get a fat severance package. The fact that you do indicates jealousy.

Now, now, me con tool. You know very, very little. If you can find a fortune 500 ceo without a golden parachute, that would be a surprise. And jealousy??? No, I just care about the middle class. Which you do not. Please, me girl, do not talk about your great success, it really does not impress me. I suspect I could buy and sell you, but my relative success has NOTHING to do with the fact that millions of workers have seen very very little increase in their wages. Regardless of the fact that their productivity has increased dramatically.

It's not a matter of whether I can find one or not. I don't care. that's their business not mine, and I'm not a jealous sniveler about it.
Thanks for telling me what I care about. It's almost as if you are a genius, almost.
I've never been bought or sold, give it your best shot.

 

[Rshermr]

OK, now lets talk about the .0000000001 percent. Yeah, that would be the ones with a golden parachute. I don't give a shit if they get a fat severance package. The fact that you do indicates jealousy.

Now, now, me con tool. You know very, very little. If you can find a fortune 500 ceo without a golden parachute, that would be a surprise. And jealousy??? No, I just care about the middle class. Which you do not. Please, me girl, do not talk about your great success, it really does not impress me. I suspect I could buy and sell you, but my relative success has NOTHING to do with the fact that millions of workers have seen very very little increase in their wages. Regardless of the fact that their productivity has increased dramatically.

It's not a matter of whether I can find one or not. I don't care. that's their business not mine, and I'm not a jealous sniveler about it.
Thanks for telling me what I care about. It's almost as if you are a genius, almost.
I've never been bought or sold, give it your best shot.

Ah, how short your memory. You said:

OK, now lets talk about the .0000000001 percent. Yeah, that would be the ones with a golden parachute.

So,rather than admit you are wrong, you say you do not care???? Got it.

Why would I want to buy you. I do not trade in congenital idiots.

 

[alan1]

That would be your opinion. I hope you understand how much I respect your opinion.

Actually, my example of 20% post 1980 VS TheJedi claiming it was all pre-1980 is a fact, not an opinion.
After your latest post, I do understand how much you respect facts.

Facts I respect. You on the other hand, not so much. What fact of mine are you doubting, me girl. Careful.

So far, I haven't denied any of your facts, just your opinions, You, on the other hand, have tried to deny my facts.
By the way, calling me a "girl" seems kind of sexist on your part. It's not the first time you've done it.

 

[alan1]

Now, now, me con tool. You know very, very little. If you can find a fortune 500 ceo without a golden parachute, that would be a surprise. And jealousy??? No, I just care about the middle class. Which you do not. Please, me girl, do not talk about your great success, it really does not impress me. I suspect I could buy and sell you, but my relative success has NOTHING to do with the fact that millions of workers have seen very very little increase in their wages. Regardless of the fact that their productivity has increased dramatically.

It's not a matter of whether I can find one or not. I don't care. that's their business not mine, and I'm not a jealous sniveler about it.
Thanks for telling me what I care about. It's almost as if you are a genius, almost.
I've never been bought or sold, give it your best shot.

Ah, how short your memory. You said:

OK, now lets talk about the .0000000001 percent. Yeah, that would be the ones with a golden parachute.

So,rather than admit you are wrong, you say you do not care???? Got it.

Why would I want to buy you. I do not trade in congenital idiots.

Not caring and being wrong are entirely different.
Nice to know that you have reduced your arguments to insults instead of honest discussion. Oh wait, that's not nice.

It was you that brought up .000000001%, remember?

Wow. That is a long list. 2.
What is that, something like .000000000001% or so??
What point is it that you are trying to prove?

 

[Rshermr]

It's not a matter of whether I can find one or not. I don't care. that's their business not mine, and I'm not a jealous sniveler about it.
Thanks for telling me what I care about. It's almost as if you are a genius, almost.
I've never been bought or sold, give it your best shot.

Ah, how short your memory. You said:

So,rather than admit you are wrong, you say you do not care???? Got it.

Why would I want to buy you. I do not trade in congenital idiots.

Not caring and being wrong are entirely different.
Nice to know that you have reduced your arguments to insults instead of honest discussion. Oh wait, that's not nice.

It was you that brought up .000000001%, remember?

Wow. That is a long list. 2.
What is that, something like .000000000001% or so??
What point is it that you are trying to prove?

Yes I did. you, however, was the one who said that would be the ratio of ceo's with golden parachutes. Sorry you do not remember your own statement. Hell, I copied it for you in my last post. You must be really slow.

 

[SteadyMercury]

I suspect I could buy and sell you

Oh my god, who seriously types this?

 

[alan1]

Ah, how short your memory. You said:

So,rather than admit you are wrong, you say you do not care???? Got it.

Why would I want to buy you. I do not trade in congenital idiots.

Not caring and being wrong are entirely different.
Nice to know that you have reduced your arguments to insults instead of honest discussion. Oh wait, that's not nice.

It was you that brought up .000000001%, remember?

Wow. That is a long list. 2.
What is that, something like .000000000001% or so??
What point is it that you are trying to prove?

Yes I did. you, however, was the one who said that would be the ratio of ceo's with golden parachutes. Sorry you do not remember your own statement. Hell, I copied it for you in my last post. You must be really slow.

I didn't say it was the ratio of CEO's. I was talking about the percentage of people.
And yet again, your misunderstanding results in you flinging an insult at me. It is becoming quite apparent to me that you prefer to pepper your posts with insults much more than to discuss ideas, facts and opinions.

 

[SteadyMercury]

quite apparent to me that you prefer to pepper your posts with insults much more than to discuss ideas, facts and opinions.

Yep, he is the lefty version of The Rabbi, all insults and no substance.