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Home Front Economy
GM CEO paid $10M despite GM losses
2007-04-28
General Motors Corp. CEO Rick Wagoner earned $10.2 million in 2006, a year in which the automaker continued to lose money and market share but managed to trim billions in losses.
GM lost $2 billion in 2006, a more than $8 billion improvement compared to its restated $10.4 billion loss in 2005.
For the first time in 76 years, GM this week lost its claim to being the world's largest automaker when Toyota Motor Co. surpassed GM in sales for the first quarter of 2007.
GM also said the majority of Wagoner's compensation was tied to future performance.

We should all be paid millions for our future performance.
Posted by:Anguper Hupomosing9418

#5  Overcompensation of CEOs is a blight upon all American industry. Too often an incoming CEO "turns around" a company by laying off its most senior workers. While this appeases Wall Street and appears to improve their bottom line the exact opposite is true. Since most firms have crappy documentation, a vast repository of tribal lore is lost with those fired workers. When economic recovery finally arrives, these companies no longer have the skills to compete.

Wall street is equally to blame. Expecting companies to be consistently profitable and show growth, quarter after quarter is ludicrous. By dumping a firm's shares at the least hint of a loss in earnings they encourage CEOs to do the damage cited above. CEOs must only be given stock options and bonuses that hinge upon long term success and profitability. Golden parachutes are nothing but an incentive to fail. Their bloated salaries cripple any ability to acquire and retain other talent. For the typical CEO to make some 400 times the average worker's pay is an obscenity. America's industrial leadership has turned into a good old boy network that is drinking this nation's lifeblood.
Posted by: Zenster   2007-04-28 15:13  

#4  As a former Detroiter and GM fan (oh, how I wanted a GTO in the 60s, but I was barely old enough to have the training wheels off My bike), I have to defend part of this.

The Rickster has done a great deal of good. Yeah, the company is still losing money, but less than before, and they are spending to improve products and quality. The new Buick Lucerne Super is something I might well buy when I'm in the market again in 09 or 10, something I haven't said about any GM product in almost 10 years. As the new products come out of the pipeline and displace the old crap, their market will turn around.

Remember that even when the days start getting longer in Winter, it's still darn cold, often colder than the Solstice.

Now, the "future" performance stuff is just silly.
Posted by: Jackal   2007-04-28 12:11  

#3  Future performance? So if he sits there with his thumb up his ass for the next year, does he have to give it back? Or do they give him more, hoping for even less the year after?
Posted by: tu3031   2007-04-28 11:21  

#2  Future Performance? Isn't that what rookie athletes are paid for? After a couple bad seasons, they're either traded or let loose. Costs the team too much.
Posted by: Procopius2k   2007-04-28 10:34  

#1  Well Damn where my 10 mill, I think my future performance is worth that. :P
Posted by: djohn66   2007-04-28 09:52  

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