CEOs Make Too Much?
by John E Nevola
Issue 116 - September 24, 2008

Barack Obama stood before eighty-five thousand people in Invesco Field at Mile High and droned on about fairness. In his acceptance speech he also complained about CEO pay. A little throw away line in his speech that outrageous CEO compensation is "not fair" and needs to be changed. What does he intend to do, put a cap on CEO compensation or, to be fair, on all high-salaried people? Was he getting enough oxygen in Denver’s thin air?

So now, it appears, Obama wants the Federal Government to regulate compensation; to decide who should earn what. It’s no longer good enough to let the free market decided the worth of a person’s skill or talent; the Federal Government now has to decide when enough compensation is too much. They have to dictate how much a Captain of Industry, a creator of goods and services and jobs is really worth.

The crowd goes wild.

However, someone ought to tell them, if they care to know, that there are many other jobs and professions with outrageous salaries out there that should also be capped, to be FAIR. If we have the stupidity to even entertain such an outrageous proposal, then more needs to be done besides stifling the compensation of just CEOs. Someone needs to tell Tiger Woods and the Williams sisters that you make too much money! Especially for what you do ! Sports are not that important. So sayeth the Obama administration.

And what about Hollywood? They pay directors and stars outrageous sums of money to “play make believe". Sorry, sweetie but you cannot make that much any more. You see, we have a ceiling, not glass either, on how much a person can make in America. Remember, we promised you CHANGE. Here it is, sweetie.

Danielle Steele and J.K. Rowling would be fat juicy targets along with Martha Stewart (oh, we went after her already) and Oprah because they make mega-bucks but Obama has to be careful here. He already dissed women big-time so he needs to be very smooth when he smacks down the ultra-rich ones.

And last but not least by a long shot (and probably not last either as there are so many more high salaries in the United States of America, land of dreams come true, that are less worthy then CEO compensation) are anchor-people. Someone needs to tell the talking heads, if they can shut up long enough to listen, that the mega-contracts they have become accustomed to are no longer allowed under a Liberal Democratic government. After all, Katie and Brian, you really are overpaid for what you do. Just because you look good on TV and can read a teleprompter does not make you worth millions. Sorry. We spanked the CEOs, sports stars, celebrities, authors and others that make too much money. We can't give you a pass on this just because you went in the tank for Obama and got him nominated. We're going to cap your compensation just like all the rest. Not to worry. It's going for a good cause. We found a new species of Water-Lilly that needs saving and we have to fund a United Nations project to build levies in Sumatra just in case another Tsunami occurs.

And when Obam a examines the national budget and the ledger of revenues to be received, he will eventually discover, thanks to his draconian controls of compensation of private individuals, that he cannot afford Universal Healthcare or to save Social Security because there will be no one left in the country making more than 250 grand a year!

Is this not obvious to everyone?