August 29, 2001 - 23:54 MDT

THE WONDERING JEW

Sideswipes

Among other things today (Aug. 29)In our paper is a column by Molly Ivins, headed Let's Not Forget Helms. A lot of the column gives quotes from Jesse Helms. Which for the most part to my eyes were stupid, bigoted, and super partisan. He also from what I have read, managed to protect home state industries with uncanny skullduggery.

Maybe a fourth of her article says it again, the thing I keep harping on. Quote, "Bush has now blown the entire budget surplus on this huge tax cut for the rich. The silliest line of commentary is this phony wringing of hands and wailing, -- "If only we had known three months ago what we know today !" -- "Of course we knew three months ago there was going to be no surplus. We were quite regularly told so by an enormous array of experts. Bush went from saying we needed a tax cut because times were so good to saying we needed a tax cut because times were so bad."

She thinks pretty much as I do that the so called surplus could be much better spent on the dilapidated schools in America which are literally falling apart, some in our rural areas and some in our inner cities. To put money into schools is a sound investment of public money. And she also thinks that this problem would be better addressed that way rather than by mass testing. I agree with her line of thought from things I have seen.

An article by Marcy Gordon (Aug 28) of the Associated Press mentions the huge bonuses to CEO's who cut jobs as an economy measure, thus benefitting at the expense of their workers. "It found that chief executives of the 52 major copanies that announced layoffs of at least 1,000 employees in the first half of 2000 earned some 80 per cent more on average than CEO's at 365 big corporations surveyed by Business Week magazine." She mentions a few of the queer things done and said. She writes, "One of the Layoff Leaders cited by the study is Michael Bonsignore, Honeywell International Inc.'s chief executive until last month, who is receiving a severance package worth nearly $10 million, plus generous pension checks." She points out, "Honeywell anounced in the spring that it would lay off 850 workers because of significant downturn in the circuit-board industry."

One thing that seems to be showing through the smoke screen as far as I can see is that some of these princes of industry, these giants who can do no wrong, have only been with these corporation for a fairly short time - yet receive super severance sums PLUS generous pension checks. Then she says, "The New York-based Conference Board's executive pay survey for 2000 shows median total compensation for 800 manufacturing CEO's of around $1.7 million in 2000 and in 1999." It also mentions two very interesting facts, "The 30 highest-paid women in big corporations each earned average total compensation of $8.7 million last year, compared wth $112.9 million for the 30 highest-paid men." By golly - that isn't right either I think. And another big boggler, "If the federal minimum wage, which was $3.80 an hour in 1990 had grown at the same rate as executive pay over the decade, it now would be $25.50 an hour as opposed to the current $5.15." Ugh, put that in your pipe and take big drags.

So to wind up this up a bit. The biggies get unbelievable windfalls for heading businesses going downhill and excessive pensions not having worked for a lot of these companies very long. Hah ! I can see a big bonus for heads of businesses on the way up and a hell of a cut in income when they can't keep a business earning money. And pensions only for these who have put in the years that we people have had to serve to get a small pension.

And the other thing the difference in income between women and men even when they are above the "glass ceiling."

To me, regardless of their activities in charitable enterprises and other things there is no person deserving excessive incomes like that.

So me, Mr. Average Peon, I forge bravely ahead in this day and age, hearing the biggies saying its only money, while I try to avoid the crunching monetary Sideswipes . . . . .

Blog