Jeffrey Goldberg, a national correspondent for The Atlantic, writes about just-departed CEO Craig Dubow, and his $37 million retirement and disability payout:
The Occupy Wall Street protests don't actually move me, in part because the goals of the movement are at once inchoate and ridiculous (as Caroline Baum at Bloomberg View points out); in part because I'm allergic to drumming circles; and in part because I think a regulated capitalist system is more or less a good thing. But news like this makes you despair. Does Craig Dubow actually believe he's worth $37 million? How much does a man need to live comfortably? How much can Craig Dubow eat?
Bravo! The more attention Dubow's excessive payout gets the more the public will be outraged. I too am allergic to drum circles but I applaud the protesters on Wall Street and elsewhere. They're directing their anger at the right people, the robber barons on the Street and in Industry who wrecked the economy. Dubow (and Martore) certainly fall into that category - laying off good employees, cutting the salaries of remaining employees, presiding over the precipitous drop in the company's value while lining their pockets with larger paychecks and fatter bonuses for themselves and their small circle of yes men.
ReplyDeleteIs it any wonder that the occupy movement is on the street. As employees we should be outraged at the behavior of the people at the highest levels of the Crusted Palace.
I've always said Wall Street will kill us. No matter what the profit margin, it's never enough. We'd be better off without those greedy bastards.
ReplyDelete12:38 PM – Unless you put the money you save under a pillow, it’s the investment funds, etc. you hope to retire on that demand the returns you, unions, et al complain about now.
ReplyDeleteRight now my pillow looks like a safer investment than Corporate America. I zeroed my 401K contribution and everyone should too until corporate charity stops.
ReplyDelete@ 4:27 – In all seriousness, how will not investing in corporations (whose dividend rates alone are better than anyone’s pillow or bank) and taxing them more result in more jobs? It won’t.
ReplyDelete5:34 A stronger tax base provides the infrastructure needed for GCI and other companies to grow and hire. That includes public schools for an educated labor force; regulatory agencies to safeguard investors, and fight unfair foreign competitors domestically; military and police to protect commercial property; good roads and bridges to transport goods, etc.
ReplyDeleteFolks you should at least contribute to the matching fund level. You're showing great financial ignorance not doing so. Don't want Gannett stock, move it to another fund the day it's put into your account. This level of ignorance is just scary
ReplyDeleteOh, I guess it all boils down to if you don't like what their doing with your money you don't give it to them. Call it ignorance or call it principle. Last I checked corporations were sitting on piles of cash and not making too many jobs. You can lump Gannett into this group. Add frozen pensions, pay cuts and a general piss-poor attitude toward their employees... and top brass rakes in the money. The old standby "Pay for Performance" is so much bullshit spoon fed to the masses. You go ahead and eat it. Sorry if I offend anyone, but I am so pissed off at the level of complacency of Gannett employees. Lambs being led to slaughter.
ReplyDeleteJim, while I enjoy your blog your view just doesn’t recognize simple economic theory at its most basic level, something Gannett’s more than proven it during the past few years. Revenues shrink, profit declines follow, and hence it cuts jobs to make up for those losses. Furthermore, govt is far from efficient in using what it gets so let’s see it better use what it wastes first.
ReplyDeleteAnd for all those seeking to punish Wall Street…is 30,000 plus job losses to date enough for you?
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204450804576623441287885726.html?mod=WSJ_hp_LEFTTopStories
I guess two can play the Google-game...
ReplyDelete"After throttling down for a depression that didn't happen, companies are sitting on billions in excess money. The likely result: A spending spree that could get the economy rolling."
http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Investing/CompanyFocus/corporate-americas-huge-piles-of-cash.aspx
The US economy is treading water. Numbers can get crunched any way you like, and just what is the U.S. unemployement number?
Oh, and please Rationalize Dubow's $37m "Pay for Performance" parachute. Here's some numbers: Stock then $72. Stock now, $10.
Yep, not one penny of my money.
The link above to the WSJ, "Top Stories" now says:
ReplyDelete"Wall Street Shrinkage
New York Comptroller Sees 10,000 More Securities Jobs Lost by End 2012."
Gotta love it!
Even Wall Street is punishing Wall Street!
ReplyDeleteThe 401K is the real Ponzi scheme. Why not let us put our money with a company match in and IRA? The financial services industry and Wall Street wouldn't dare let that happen for all the business they'd lose.
ReplyDeleteEmployees are held hostage by the so-called company match. And while you can theoretically sell the company stock the "next day", good luck getting that crappy website to work.
History will how what the real Ponzi scheme was, unfortunately, people like us without golden parachutes will have suffered by then.
12:38 here again. No, I don't have my money stuffed in a pillow. It's in the garden in a jar.
ReplyDeleteWall Street had traditionally been a place to make money over the long term. Now, it's you better have a profit margin in the mid- to high-20s or more and get us rich in a year. Companies are beholden to their share holders and only seem to care about the closing price that day.
To me, it all boils down to: How much is enough? Dubow's final trip to the GCI bank says it all.