Bad Deeds for 7-3-2011

The Good Times For Chief Executives Just Keep Getting Better – But Not For the Rest of Us

Philippe Dauman of Viacom’s executive pay in 2010.

A study conducted by Equilar, an executive compensation data firm, shows that the median pay for top executives at 200 big companies last year was $10.8 million. That works out to a 23 percent gain from 2009. Cash bonuses jumped by an astounding 38 percent.

According to a report released by GovernanceMetrics in June, the good times for chief executives just keep getting better. Many executives received stock options that were granted in 2008 and 2009, when the stock market was sinking.

Now that the market has recovered from its lows of the financial crisis, many executives are sitting on windfall profits, at least on paper. In addition, cash bonuses for the highest-paid C.E.O.’s are at three times prerecession levels, the report said.

Most ordinary Americans aren’t getting raises anywhere close to those of these chief executives. Many aren’t getting raises at all — or even regular paychecks. The average American worker was taking home $752 a week in late 2010, up a mere 0.5 percent from a year earlier. After inflation, workers were actually making less.

Somebody is Getting Richer Off Your Hard Work, and It’s Not You – Here’s what’s been happening to your wages and salaries:

Here’s what’s been happening to the profits of the corporations you work for[, which your producivity gains created]:

Once again we see that there is plenty of money. It’s just that the middle class and the government of “we, the people” aren’t getting much of it. It’s mostly going to a select few who intend to keep it that way.

BTW, the first graph also shows that in this current rigged game, if you are not already rich, you never will be. At least, not by working for the rich guys. Their club is very exclusive.

Congress Insists on Buying Things the Pentagon Doesn’t Want – Congress is ignoring one of outgoing Secretary of Defense Robert Gates’ wishes – ending the C-17 military transport plane. Pentagon leaders dating all the way back to Dick Cheney have said we don’t need any more C-17s. But Congress is planning to vote NEXT WEEK on an appropriations bill that keeps our tax dollars buying more C-17s. Gates isn’t the only one who wants to end this plane. Even some Congressional Republicans have signed on to the idea of ending unnecessary Pentagon spending like this. And President Obama has promised to veto an appropriations bill that wastes more money on things like the C-17. But some in Congress are so beholden to the weapons-builders in their districts that they’re willing to buck the President, House leadership and the public in order to keep our tax dollars flowing to their corporate supporters.

The Pentagon should not be immune to budget cuts – especially when it comes to wasteful spending. Tell Congress to honor Gates’ last wish and end the C-17.

Rick Perry Chums it Up With Billionaire Koch Brothers – Two prominent Republican governors – Bob McDonnell of Virginia and Rick Perry of Texas – mingled with other GOP notables and some of the wealthiest conservative donors in the country at the annual summer retreat organized by the Koch brothers that began Sunday near Vail, Colo.

The Koch conferences are organized and paid for by the Koch brothers’ oil and chemical company, Koch Industries, and have taken place twice a year since 2003, with the winter meetings typically in the Palm Springs area, and the summer meetings in Colorado – so selected for their proximity to homes owned by the Koch brothers.

Those who attend are warned not to mention the meetings publicly, and – until January’s meeting in California – every previous meeting had gone off without a word in the press.

In the past, the meetings have drawn an A list of participants – politicians like Sens. John Cornyn (Tex.) and Jim DeMint (S.C.) and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (Va.), as well as leading free-market thinkers including American Enterprise Institute president Arthur Brooks, talkers Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck and even Supreme Court justices to mingle with wealthy donors who make up the bulk of the invite list.

The Koch conferences typically bring together about 200 conservative business titans and dignitaries hand-picked by the Koch brothers and their operatives to discuss free-enterprise conservative causes and raise millions of dollars in contributions to political groups such as Americans for Prosperity, and other non-profits favored by the Kochs.

The Pledge of (Republi[Corp]) Allegiance – On this 4th of July weekend, I wanted to remind everyone to pause for a moment, put down those Cokes, and join with those other Kochs in reciting our sacred psalm of patriots.

So please rise. Hand over heart. Ready. Begin:

Regards,

Jim