institute of Policy Studies Report: CEOs lay off thousands, rake in millions

[Better Believe It]

CEOs lay off thousands, rake in millions
Report: Top execs make more than average when payrolls cut
By Roland Jones
September 1, 2010

When Hewlett-Packard’s Chief Executive Mark Hurd resigned last month he received something few regular workers see when they quit their jobs under a cloud: A massive payout.

Turns out Hurd is far from the only top executive to be rewarded with a rich package despite a management performance that could be considered less than optimal — especially by rank-and-file workers.

A new report concludes that chief executives of the 50 firms that have laid off the most workers since the onset of the economic crisis in 2008 took home 42 percent more pay in 2009 than their peers at other large U.S. companies.

The report, from the Institute of Policy Studies, found that the 50 layoff leaders received $12 million on average in 2009, compared with an average compensation of $8.5 million for chief executives of companies in Standard & Poor's 500. Each of the 50 companies examined in the report laid off at least 3,000 workers between November 2008 and April 2010.

“Our findings illustrate the great unfairness of the Great Recession,” said Sarah Anderson, lead author of the study, “CEO Pay and the Great Recession,” the latest in a series of annual “Executive Excess” reports published by the institute, a progressive think tank. “CEOs are squeezing workers to boost short-term profits and fatten their own paychecks.”

Those CEOs include HP’s Hurd, who slashed 6,400 jobs in 2009 — a year when his compensation amounted to $24.2 million.

Hurd made headlines last month when he suddenly resigned after an investigation into a sexual harassment claim against him found he had falsified expense reports related to meetings with a female contractor. Despite the findings, he walked away with a severance package that reportedly could be worth more than $40 million.

Read the full article at:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38935053/ns/business-us_business



Download and read the Institute of Policy Studies Report "Executive Excess 2010: CEO Pay and the Great Recession" at:

http://www.ips-dc.org/reports/

[HughBeaumont]

1. The CEO Industry: Legalized Theft.

"What's wrong with making people work for their wealth", conservatives ask.

Well, with the appalling examples of these bastards walking out with multiple lotteries no matter WHAT kind of job they do, how are you going to enforce such a notion?

This is THEFT, aided and abetted by fellow board members, who can also sometimes be other CEOs/CFOs/COOs. THEFT. Don't care whether it comes in a contract or not, it's THEFT and it's bullshit that this is allowed to continue.

[AdHocSolver]

2. It is legalized theft based on a variation of a Ponzi scheme.

It is a scam in which the top executives, select Wall Street stock brokers, and a select group of investors manipulate the stock price of a company to reap huge profits.

In the old days, the scam involved the company promoting a rumor about a technological breakthrough being imminent which would revolutionize the business and increase sales and profits dramatically.

This rumor is spread to lure investors (the "marks") to buy the stock driving up its price. Stock brokers make lots of money through brokerage fees.

As stock sales reach a level of saturation that guarantees a hefty profit for insiders, the insiders dump their stocks, and as stock sales taper off, and the stock price drops back, company executives announce that they have no idea how this rumor got started about a breakthrough.

Nowadays, with most technological breakthroughs coming from Asia and Europe, the insiders need a new gimmick to scam the ignorant who have money to invest.

What better way to boost profits quickly than to fire a lot of employees, irrespective of the long term harm to the profitability and viability of the company. Reducing payroll is the fastest way to cut costs and thereby boost apparent profits. The incautious investor sees profits are up, and with the encouragement of stock brokers whose income comes from commissions on sales, it is a win-win for the insiders.

The CEO gets his "golden Parachute" payoff because he performed exactly the way he was supposed to for the insider investors in the company. The company is unimportant except as a vehicle for making huge profits for the top investors.