Executive Pay: A Special Report - Leaving Many Behind

[Jon8503]

By ERIC DASH - Published: April 9, 2006
OMAHA

Dave Weaver for The New York Times

Bruce C. Rohde earned more than $45 million over eight years as head of ConAgra.

IN 1977, James P. Smith, a shaggy-haired 21-year-old known as Skinny, took a job as a meat grinder at what is now a ConAgra Foods pepperoni plant. At $6.40 an hour, it was among the best-paying jobs in town for a high school graduate.

Nearly three decades later, Mr. Smith still arrives at the same factory, shortly before his 3:30 a.m. shift. His hair has thinned; he has put on weight. Today, his union job pays him $13.25 an hour to operate the giant blenders that crush 3,600-pound blocks of pork and beef.

His earnings, which total about $28,000 a year, have not kept pace even with Omaha's low cost of living. The company eliminated bonuses about a decade ago. And now, almost 50, Mr. Smith is concerned that his $80,000 retirement nest egg will not be enough — especially since his plant is on a list of ones ConAgra wants to sell.

"I will probably have to work until I die," Mr. Smith said in his Nebraskan baritone.

Not so for Bruce C. Rohde, ConAgra's former chairman and chief executive, who stepped down last September amid investor pressure. He is set for life.



Rest of Article @ Link Below:

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/09/business/businessspecial/09pay.html


EDIT: COPYRIGHT...PLEASE POST ONLY 4 OR 5 PARAGRAPHS
FROM THE COPYRIGHTED NEWS SOURCE PER DU RULES.

[FormerDittoHead]

1. While Republicans focus on PC crap - THIS is the REAL story...

Right wing talker Michael Smerconish thinks the problem with our society is that we give trophies to 6 year olds for only "participating". "What message are we sending the kids?" He asks...

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/159555050X/103-5231951-1711869

But *THIS* is the REALITY we should be talking about!

Yo! Michael! Where in your book are the "horror stories" about your heros like Rohdes??????

[melm00se]

2. and the solution is?

[gizmo1979]

11. Unity outrage

the only way it would stop is if people stopped buying their product and sold their stock.We all know there is no unity among americans on anything.So this will continue to happen until there are only 6 buck an hour jobs left.

[Deja Q]

16. Not even then. Wait for minimum wage and UI to be eliminated.

[FormerDittoHead]

13. Greater awareness... Big corps fold under the smallest amount of pressure.

By "fold" I mean like drop controversial spokespersons, change wording on products, etc.

There's no question in my mind that the vast majority of these salaries are paid with the least amount of publicity.

On any given Sunday, Dupont, Honeywell, etc. advertise their companies without actually selling a product.

They could EASILY make these ads, "We pay our CEO $80 for driving our company in the ground, and we're PROUD OF IT!"

But they don't.

The point is that this situation exists because of the lack of outrage and the simple solution is that if more people were simply made aware of stories like the one cited - with specifics (as opposed to the "general" outrage of "everyone" does it, rich get richer, nothing changes, etc) you'd see the corporations lining up for good publicity with their proud, modestly paid CEOs...

[Deja Q]

17. Tell that to microsoft. A company so sleazy, it

markets its new products by actively dissing its own predecessors.

Windows 2000 dissed Win95, saying how 95 was crash prone? (and they ignored how Win98 blew up on gates' face during a release event!)

Windows XP said it's what 2000 should have been.

How come 2000 and XP weren't FREE then?

I digress. Any other company would have folded and gone back under its moldy rock. But MS found the right contact to leech off of (IBM... twice, come to think of it... so IBM isn't that bright either...) and the rest is history.

[HughBeaumont]

3. Adjusted for inflation, Jimmy Smith is actually making LESS

now than he did in 1977. WAY less.

http://minneapolisfed.org/research/data/us/calc/

Using this online calculator, 6.40 an hour in 1977 rounds out to 21 bucks and some change per hour in 2006 dollars. UNbelievable. So he's making less than 3/4 now what he made in 1977.

Meanwhile, this asshole CEO "received no bonuses in 2001 and 2005"



See that?

That's the world's most microscopic tear being shed for Bruce Rohde.

Disgusting. Anyone who thinks today's economy is worth an even shit for today's workers needs to read Perfectly Legal by David Cay Johnston and wake the hell up expeditiously.

[Sawber1001]

4. Need more information

What did Rohde do to get to that position?

Obviously $45 million over 8 years is extremely excessive, but surely he did something to get into the position or at least advance himself.

On the other hand did Smith do much beyond showing up to work?

I don't think there's enough information to have a solid, air tight example to throw in the "pro-CEO-excessive-salary" crowd's face.

[Jon8503]

5. Oh for gods sake - evidently you have not been reading on this

problem that so many people see today - Not enough information, first of all in the article it talks of how the company even with all the ceo compensation struggled under his watch. Evidently, he is the one who only just showed up for work.

[HughBeaumont]

6. Well let's see,

Bruce Rohde did nothing to contribute to ConAgra's success, he didn't invent anything they use, and his overall poor performance was rewarded with lottery bonuses, lottery pay and 20 million in exit booty.

Meanwhile, Jimmy Smith showed up for work regularly for 29 years, is an exemplary employee, and is rewarded with a substantial pay cut, no bonus for a decade, and the possibility of being put out into the street.

I think the board you want to spew this pro-corporate horseshit is over at freerepublic.com.

[Jon8503]

7. Was thinking the same thing - "Need More Info" Unbelieveable

this has been an issue for the last few years you could hardly miss, even if you read as much as Bush does.

[Jon8503]

9. In addition to this article, Look at this one in USA Today.

http://www.usatoday.com/money/companies/management/2006-04-06-pensions-usat_x.htm

[HughBeaumont]

10. What's the disparity at right now, about 400:1?

Sometime ago, it was up to about 500:1.

So they made the stock price go up (usually by firing employees, mergers and/or offshoring jobs). Do those people deserve multiple lotteries per YEAR for that? Do they deserve so many lottery grant perks from the government (outlined in Perfectly Legal, just to make one's blood boil even further)? Do they deserve 21 MILLION dollars for earning the same amount of revenue while spending 3 times as much over a five year period, which Chainsaw Carly Fiorina did with HP?

Something needs to be done about unbridled corporatism. This has been going on for decades now, and it's not working for anyone except the rich.

[malaise]

8. No matter what he did

the widening gap between management and workers is madness. All it is doing is creating the class system that the USA supposedly abhores. There will be consequences as a result of this widening gap. I hope those who support this madness are prepared for them.

[newyawker99]

12. Hi Sawber1001!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[Neil Lisst]

14. it's a crying shame, and a natural consequence of bigness

There was a time in the this country when we recognized that big conglomerations of many diverse interests under one corporate banner was a bad thing. From Teddy Roosevelt through Jimmy Carter, that prevailed. Until Ronald Reagan, professional errand boy for large corporate interests, became president.

[Deja Q]

15. That's the plan. Work to death. And work on what they want.

Whatever happened to "live to work"? To "work to live" poisons the soul.

And the fat fuckers are out playing golf all day. That's a reeeeeeeeeal hard way to earn those bucks. :sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm: