Filed under: Election 2008 | Tags: bailout, john mackey, wall street, whole foods
Since I first learned of it, I have really admired the way Whole Foods caps its executives’ salaries. John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods, can make no more than 19 times the average salary of Whole Foods workers. That’s salary and bonuses. If Mr. Mackey wants a raise, he needs to ensure that Whole Foods is so profitable that the average salary of its employees increases.
What a novel idea.
Here’s another… If those Wall Street idiots want a public handout, let it be with a similar contingency.
Obscene compensation levels for CEOs in America is not a new issue. Forbes magazine reported that the top executives at the nation’s 500 largest companies averaged $12.8 million last year. That’s nearly a quarter million dollars a week – over 400 times what the average American makes.
As the calamitous effect of deregulation leads us toward an era of reregulation, it would be wise to proceed cautiously with regard to executive salaries. After all, we wouldn’t want to lose our best and brightest corporate minds to overseas companies where they could make… a fraction of what the U.S. pays its CEOs. OK, bad example, but the point is, we may or may not be able to do much about the exorbitant salaries and bonuses paid by corporate boards to their CEOs.
But this is different.
You want a taxpayer-funded bailout, Wall Street? Fine. But it’s public money, so it comes with strings attached. If 19X is good enough for John Mackey – who has bankrupted neither Whole Foods nor the grocery industry (much less the nation) then something less than 19X ought to be good enough for you. You want more? Call John Mackey; maybe he can give you some pointers on how to achieve that.
