[PEN-L:11217] Re: on CEO Pay

["James Michael Craven" <CRAVJM@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

> At 08:47 AM 7/9/97 -0700, James Michael Craven wrote: > [SNIP]
> >purported CEO "marginal productivity" or MRP. Often, behind the slick
> >suits, executive penthouses and the trappings of executive power, one
> >finds individuals who might best be described as fluff n' puff,
> >predatory, machiavellian, superficial, sycophantic, calculating,
> >narrow, myopic, cliche-based, corporate creatures whose real MRPs, if
> >they could be really calculated, would be closer to that of a pimp or
> >a counter person at Mc Donalds. Just watch some of these business
> >programs and when these imperial creatures deign to give an interview-
> >-highly structured and mostly softball questions--many
> >unintentionally reveal themselves to be quite empty and devoid of
> >substance.
> >
>
> Jim: You do an injustice to the hard-working minimum wage workers at
> McDonalds.  Unlike the CEOs about whom you speak, they actually work for
> wages, earn their paychecks, and suffer the indignities of fast-food
> exploitation.  By comparison, CEOs are just large-scale thieves.
>
> In solidarity,
> Michael

Michael,

I know exactly what you are saying and that thought crossed my mind
before I wrote what I wrote. The MRP of a typical Mc Donald's worker
is relatively low in money terms (MPP X relatively low-priced output)
not in physical productivity terms--you-re right they do wok hard; my
comment was about the money value of the MRP of the CEO. In fact, I
would argue that many of these CEO's and their downsizing/hollowing
out actually damage the long-run productivity and competitiveness of
the firms they oversee and therefore maybe their MRPs are even
negative.

I do note and share the sentiments you express. I hope that my
writing indicates attitudes and a paradigm such that I would never
demean or diminish those who really work for a living and do really
generate tangible products and productivity.

                                 Jim Craven

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