The Great American CEO

You know, I don’t have anything against rich people. I wouldn’t mind being rich myself one day. But hasn’t this trend of paying CEOs outrageous sums of money gotten out of hand? GM just fired 51,000 employees and is now asking for a $25 billion handout from Congress, and their CEO, who makes $14 million per year, flew in a private jet from Detroit to DC to argue his case at a cost of twenty grand. A first class ticket on a plane which left the same airport at the same time and landed at the same airport in DC as the private jet did cost $800 bucks. You spend money like that, and you want me to bail you out?

ABC did a nice little expose on this topic, and you should watch it.

Now, I don’t have anything against rich people. I’m glad there are rich people. I’d like to be rich myself one day. But this? This is ridiculous. What’s really infuriating about it is that the auto manufacturers, like AIG, dug their own graves. I know, I know, that’s why it’s called a “bailout.” It’s ridiculous, but what can be done about it? We can’t tell Ford that they can’t pay their CEO $29 million per year. We just have to hope that they don’t do what they’ve done, which is to dig a hole they can’t get out of. The financial district bailout was bad, and now the automakers want the bailout too. Are the CEOs, the leaders of these vastly wealthy corporations, being held responsible? Is there any accountability? No. As far as I can tell, the financial district got their bailout and then started lighting their cigars with thousand dollar bills instead of hundreds. The auto makers just want the same kind of deal, otherwise they might not be able to let their CEO fly around in their private jet.