Talkin' GRB CEOs

From the 11-11-11 Blondie comic strip in the Chicago Tribune.

FRAME ONE: Blondie and Dagwood are at the table and he is reading the paper and says, "It looks like the CEO of another corporation is under suspicion."

Blondie-- "What did he do?"


FRAME TWO: Dagwood, "He was given a $5 million bonus."


FRAME THREE: Dagwood, "...but he refused it because he didn't feel he'd earned it."

Blondie,: "Boy, talk about running up a red flag."

Yup. --RoadDog

It's Them, Not Me: CEOs Vs. Working Stiffs-- Part 1

OK, it's Comic Corner from the August 12, 2010, Chicago Tribune featuring Second City's Seth Weitberg. But part of it is true about Hewlett Packard's CEO Mark Hurd resigning for doing bad stuff. I'm laughing, but boy it hurts.

Here is Weitberg's comparison between his leaving and those of the regular Moes his dealings have also cost them their jobs.

Mark Hurd (MH) is first and Working Stiff (WS) is second.


REASON FOR LEAVING:

MH-- Forced to resign after company discovered inaccurate expense reports while investigating him for allegations of sexually harassing former actress and outside marketing consultant Jodie Fisher.

WS-- Laid off when the company has to downsize to cover golden parachute of outgoing executive.


SEVERANCE PAYMENT:

MH-- $12.2 million

WS-- Allowed to keep the money in your pockets


OUTSTANDING OPTIONS:

MH-- Deadline extended for exercising them, allowing Hurd to purchase up to 775,000 HP shares. (This could make him considerably richer is the stock market goes his way.)

WD-- Cheryl from accounting never got back to you about going out to dinner, so consider that one to still be on the table.

I've Got Three More Tomorrow. --RoadDog


REALITY: I got so depressed last night thinking about the economy, wars, jobs, my savings, Social Security,retirement funds, etc., I called the Suicide Hotline. I got a call center in Afghanistan and when I told them I was suicidal, they got all excited and asked if I could drive a truck.

File Under Things That Burn Me-- CEOs and CFOs

One of the reasons for out economic malaise is the utter greed of those who lead our companies.

Came across an article in the October 11th Chicago Tribune about Walgreens CEO Jeffrey Rein who left the chain. This is a man who like so many CEOs these days has a tenure of only a few years. One who comes in, shakes up a company, messes it up, and then takes off with his golden parachute.

In the past, Walgreens has always promoted from within, until now. Rein immediately began hiring senior executives from the outside, taking on debt, and wildly buying other drug companies.


Rein was the fourth CEO of Walgreens in the past ten years. Charles Walgreen, III, ran the company for thirty years before that. Unfortunately, there was nothing about Rein's "retirement" package.


ON THE SAME PAGE


On the same page was the "severance" package for United CFO Jake Brace, who pocketed more than $2.4 million. He led United through "a long and painful restructuring." Among other things, he ended the company's pension program.

For his "efforts", Brace received $10.3 million in 2006. Plus, he is getting lots and lots of stock options which he can hold on to for eight more years.


These Guys Seem to ONLY Be Thinking of Themselves and Not the Companies They Lead. --RoadDog

In These Bad Business Times...

Received a good e-mail from a friend with some "NEW" business definitions. Had a chuckle. Here are some of them:

CEO-- Chief Embezzlement Officer

CFO-- Corporate Fraud Officer

Broker-- What my broker has made me

PROFIT-- an archaic word no longer in use

VALUE INVESTING-- the art of buying low and selling even lower

There has just got to be ones for HEDGE FUNDS, COMMODITY TRADERS, and A Better one for BROKER.

Perhaps HEDGE FUND OPERATOR-- crook

COMMODITY TRADER and STOCKBROKERS-- Chicken Little Wannabes

Laugh While You're Crying. --RoadDog

Monetery Meltdown

This whole thing is a result of GREED on a level never before known. We have way too many Americans day trading, commodity and stock traders taking advantage for personal profit, and the worst group of CEOs and upper management ever assembled.

It would appear that many of these CEOs are nothing short of crooks and without moral compass. They will gut companies and make unbelievably poor judgement calls, all to make themselves and stockholders richer.

This IS the big issue in this election.

Personally, I will vote for whoever comes up with a way to punish and control Big Oil as well as Big Business.

At least, neither candidate is from a Big Business/Big Oil background (such as the current White House resident), other than McCain's wife. This should help.

Madder Than Can Be Imagined. --RoadDog

Don't These Guys Just Burn You!!!

And they do it with a smile.

On today's Yahoo page, there was a video from Forbes on the CEOs who do the worst for the most. These are guys who run their companies into the ground and collect lots of money for doing it. These are the guys who are wrecking our country.

Among the rogues gallery:

KEVIN SHARER who makes $12.3 million yearly. I forgot to write down what company he is with.

ANGELO MOZITO-- Countryside mortgage lenders who pulls down a coll $66 million while his country founders.

The video went on to say that in the early 80s, most CEOs made 40 times as much as their workers. Today it is 433 times.

One guy was forced to step down with $40 million and a monthly pension of $83,000 and his former company is going to help him find a new job.

Then someone says, why don't the Boards of Directors do something about this. Well, these groups are made up of CEOs and their cronies.

It would seem to me that a lot of CEOs are in it for their sole benefit.

No Big Wonder that This Country is in Such Bad Shape. --RoadDog

What is the State of Labor on Labor Day?

This past weekend, we celebrated the very backbone of this country. That would be those who go out and toil with their own backs and minds and skills to make this country the great place it is. I'm not talking about those who earn money off labor or who make money on the stock market and playing futures. I'm talking about the REAL people of America.

I'm talking about the people who are really suffering today. The people who can no longer expect to live the "American Dream" because prices have increased while jobs, at least the good ones, have gone by the wayside. Those that are having a hard time buying groceries and meeting increased health care. Those who are trying to raise families while paying exorbitant day care prices.

The government likes to talk about the numbers of new jobs that are available for people. YES--MINIMUM WAGE AND FEW IF ANY BENEFITS. In the meantime, the rich get richer and the middle class is dwindling.

The days of the labor unions seem to be over as an effective force to deal with owners and CEOs.

Then, there's the horrible inflation we're having. The price of everything keeps going up. And let's not even talk about gas and Big Oil profits.

Not a Pleasant Future That We Face. --RoadDog

Dad and Quaker's Snapple Fiasco

The June 16th Chicago Tribune business section had an article about the world's largest confectionery company, Cadbury Schweppes PLC, is trying to sell their US soft-drink business which would include Dr. Pepper, 7 Up, Canada Dry, and Snapple.

They're expected to get as much as $16 billion for it. Possible buyers might be Hershey, Tootsie Roll Industries, or Kraft.

I have never seen Dad as mad as he got when Quaker Oats spent what he considered to be way too much for a business which at the time was on the downswing. Dad would bleed Quaker if you cut him. His loyalty to that company was tremendous. He was livid with CEO Smithberg's decision, against all advice, to buy Snapple. He said, it would bring about Quaker's downfall, which it did.

Smithberg kept selling off parts of Quaker to prop up Snapple which was hemorrhaging money. Finally, Quaker ended up being bought by PepsiCo which had always wanted Gatorade. They came up with their own Gatorade-type products, but just couldn't break its hold on the sports drink segment of drinks.

Smithberg, in true CEO fashion, golden-parachuted his way out the door. I'm sure that if Dad had been Quaker's CEO, they would still be their own company.

FACTS ABOUT CADBURY SCHWEPPES:

Headquarters in London, empolyees about 60,000 worldwide, some major US brands: Trident, Dentyne, and Motts as well as the drinks already mentioned.

SOME FACTS ABOUT SNAPPLE:

Started in 1972 by childhood friends Leonard Marsh, Hyman Golden, and Arnold Greenberg who began selling their pure fruit drinks to health food stores around Greenwich Village in NYC.

The name Snapple comes from a discontinued carbonated apple soda that had a "snappy" apple taste.

In 1987 they began making teas with Snapple Lemon Tea the first effort. This continues to be the best-seller even now. Currently, Snapple makes 30 different juices, lemonades, and teas.

Somehow, I Need to be a CEO. Imagine getting to Screw Up and Walk Away with Millions. --RoadDog