GM CEO Whitacre receives $9M pay package

[Nick R]

Originally Posted By: Falcon_LS
Chrysler opens a new plant in Mexico, GM pays stupid money to high end officials...what's changed? Maybe the bailout was a wrong move.


Compared to what the CEOs were making before, and what non-CEO executives of other big companies are making... This is chump change. $9 Million seems like alot to us because well, none of us make that kind of money. But as far as CEOs and Execs go, this is really very little.

 

[cchase]

I get the sense from some people on here that they feel that no one should make more than them. That if they work their butts off surely no one that makes more than them does, too and they can't possibly deserve more than they make.

I've never understood it.

 

[Rickey]

lets look at a slightly differently perspective:

So far as I can tell (please correct me if I am wrong)

In recent history no GM car has ran away and killed it's occupants.
This in itself is reward-able and commendable behavior.
Both on the part of the company and it's officers.

 

[Drew2000]

He is not "making" $9 million per year. Stock options are a way to motivate/reward executives to turn the company around and increase equity value at a future date. If GM goes belly-up his options will be worthless.

 

[Ben99GT]

What happened to the $200K salary cap?

 

[IndyIan]

Originally Posted By: cchase
I get the sense from some people on here that they feel that no one should make more than them. That if they work their butts off surely no one that makes more than them does, too and they can't possibly deserve more than they make.

I've never understood it.

Personally I don't think these guys earn it, plus their skill set isn't that rare. Do they have some sort of special insight to make decisions with? Maybe some do but I doubt most do anything but make the safe decision based on what their information filter people tell them they should do.

For a car company, the design team, then marketing team, should make the big dollars. Kind of like pro athletes, they have the unique skills to produce the product, not the general manager or the coach.

 

[Steve S]

The exec pay is what sucks the quality from the products they sell . They may be smart but they are not worth what they get paid .I can bankrupt G.M. as well for Rick Waggoners pay and 25 mill golden parachute.

 

[Steve S]

Originally Posted By: jsharp
Originally Posted By: Troy_Built
There are just giving money away they don't have.


You misspelled WE...
+1!!!!!

 

[GMBoy]

Originally Posted By: EricF
fritz's salary is a whole heck of a lot more than I make in a year.. and I bust my hump every single day like the rest of us.



I agree. I am a working max overtime in a GM plant and not getting all the overtime (I am mgt). I am happy to be working, but come on - fire a guy (henderson) and bring him back at almost 60k a month for 20 hrs work! That is a slap in the face to me. They can overpay HIM but not pay me for all the hours I work?? I work 60-70 hours a week - not Fritz's 20 a month.

 

[nthach]

Originally Posted By: cchase
Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
Originally Posted By: rudolphna
Originally Posted By: Troy_Built
There are just giving money away they don't have.


Wrong, they are PAYING their employees. Companies are not volunteer organizations. You wouldn't do your job for free, would you? If you went in and your boss told you that you weren't going to get paid... You would be very unhappy, am I mistaken?

But you should not be getting paid (so much) to fix the mistakes/problems that you yourself have caused in the first place.

If I screw up, I fix it out of my own pocket. I don't ask my customer to pay for fixing of what I broke.


Ed Whitacre didn't cause any mistakes/problems with GM. So I don't get it.

If history is any indicator, Ed Whitacre almost ruined AT&T. They didn't plan a good plan to upgrade their aging network with fiber, and they had no idea what to do with Cingular post-SBC merger.

 

[mechanicx]

I personally think American CEOs, the executives and upper managment are overpayed and they usually under-perform. I think their huge salaries and benefits are why companies have trouble turning a profit. What's the policy at most of the Japanese companies? The top guy cannot make more than 10 times the bottom worker's pay.

 

[Shannow]

I've got no probs with executive remuneration...when they are turning a profit, and making a good product profitably.

Countering that, was at a power industry seminar some years ago, and there was a study done on power stations, that indicated that poor decisions (typically cost cutting) took a while to filter through to poor profits, and that the next sucker got poor reliability, higher expenses, and to have his nose rubbed in the previous one's performance.

Sucks to be that guy, but if he does good, holds on, he'll be in a winning position.

Until they repay their debt, they should be paying execs as per public utilities, not profitable companies...

 

[cousincletus]

My thoughts are that cars sold in the USA should have at least a 90% domestic parts content. They did in the 1990s, as my 1993 Cavalier had 93%. I have no issues w/ceos making big bucks as long as they're not hurting the working people in the process.

 

[labman]

I am a strong believer in buy American, but without the discipline of a free market, we will be paying high prices for junk.

If I can find an American product, competitive on price and quality, I will buy it every time.

 

[Drew2000]

Originally Posted By: cousincletus
My thoughts are that cars sold in the USA should have at least a 90% domestic parts content. They did in the 1990s, as my 1993 Cavalier had 93%. I have no issues w/ceos making big bucks as long as they're not hurting the working people in the process.


....So then China or India or (fill in country) can demand that Boeing aircraft, Caterpillar dozers and Deere tractors have a 90% Chinese or India or (fill in country) content before they will buy them?

Protectionism is a very slippery slope and good intentions can have very bad outcomes.

 

[saberz]

I for one don't approve of that. Every little bit counts, pay us back.

I can't fathom why or how we allow companies to pay a single person such high and ridiculous pay rates. How we allow Athletes to earn such high wages when they "play" the game. Actors who just entertain. When did we allow all the sports and leisure activities to pay more than 90% of the jobs available?

As smart or in most cases(lucky) a CEO is, they shouldn't get paid what they get paid. Especially when faces with the daunting task of paying us back(which you know, will NEVER happen). We will get the burden, the companies get the exemption and everything is going to be ok. AIG took our money and through parties at our expense, gave raises at our expense.

You don't see GM thanking us, the tax payer.

 

[IndyIan]

Originally Posted By: Anies
I for one don't approve of that. Every little bit counts, pay us back.

I can't fathom why or how we allow companies to pay a single person such high and ridiculous pay rates. How we allow Athletes to earn such high wages when they "play" the game. Actors who just entertain. When did we allow all the sports and leisure activities to pay more than 90% of the jobs available?

As smart or in most cases(lucky) a CEO is, they shouldn't get paid what they get paid. Especially when faces with the daunting task of paying us back(which you know, will NEVER happen). We will get the burden, the companies get the exemption and everything is going to be ok. AIG took our money and through parties at our expense, gave raises at our expense.

You don't see GM thanking us, the tax payer.


Athletes and actors directly earn their pay, you can only have 1 lead actor, or 1 guy in a position to help win games, winning games fills the stands and its directly because of the player. When there are only a dozen players in the world that have that skill then its no mystery why the bidding war goes way up for them. Ovechkin gets 10 million a year but probably brings 50 million a year to the Capitals... Without the salary cap in the NHL you can be sure some other team would pay him 15 million a year to bring in 50...
A CEO's decisions can make or lose tons of money but they have dozens(hundreds?) of smart people helping them out.

 

[GROUCHO MARX]

Easiest thing in the world is spending OTHER people's money.

 

[cousincletus]

Originally Posted By: labman
I am a strong believer in buy American, but without the discipline of a free market, we will be paying high prices for junk.

If I can find an American product, competitive on price and quality, I will buy it every time.


The American market is big enough we could produce everything we consume, and there would be plenty of competition. Any prices that are lower are just ways of foreign competition trying to corner another of our markets.

 

[saberz]

Originally Posted By: IndyIan
Originally Posted By: Anies
I for one don't approve of that. Every little bit counts, pay us back.

I can't fathom why or how we allow companies to pay a single person such high and ridiculous pay rates. How we allow Athletes to earn such high wages when they "play" the game. Actors who just entertain. When did we allow all the sports and leisure activities to pay more than 90% of the jobs available?

As smart or in most cases(lucky) a CEO is, they shouldn't get paid what they get paid. Especially when faces with the daunting task of paying us back(which you know, will NEVER happen). We will get the burden, the companies get the exemption and everything is going to be ok. AIG took our money and through parties at our expense, gave raises at our expense.

You don't see GM thanking us, the tax payer.


Athletes and actors directly earn their pay, you can only have 1 lead actor, or 1 guy in a position to help win games, winning games fills the stands and its directly because of the player. When there are only a dozen players in the world that have that skill then its no mystery why the bidding war goes way up for them. Ovechkin gets 10 million a year but probably brings 50 million a year to the Capitals... Without the salary cap in the NHL you can be sure some other team would pay him 15 million a year to bring in 50...
A CEO's decisions can make or lose tons of money but they have dozens(hundreds?) of smart people helping them out.



Dozens and or hundreds of smart people earning far less than them helping out. A CEO makes a decision, as do all human beings. A CEO earns more money than an individual who runs a whole nation, aka the President or any Senate/Congressional member.