Thursday, February 05, 2009

I'm a quick study. Give me a job.

I hear they're afraid that if you only pay CEO's of failed companies $500,000 a year, they won't be able to find anyone competent to run them? I'm a pretty quick study, good with higher math, IQ around 140, don't need a lot of sleep. I'd be glad to stop blogging for a while to save a company.

All of that is to say, I'm sure there are plenty of competent people out there who'd be glad to do more than give it a shot. Who knows, maybe we can send the good old boy, slick talkers off to their bidets and get someone who might actually have virtue and brains.

7 comments:

Angie Van De Merwe said...

Ken, I just wrote on my blogsite about this very thing..angiespoint@blogspot.com

I understand that this is for those companies that are being bailed out...

I have always thought that our society's values have been skewed in some ways in how we pay those who entertain us, versus those who educate us...:)

That being said, I still believe that the 'free market' and the "common good" are both necessary to affirm, because without them there is not just an imbalance, but a unjust society. One values self-responsibilty, and the other view, responsibility to society. How these different responsibilities interface in an individual's life will look different, and no one else can (or should) determine that. Otherwise, there would be a limitation to liberty of individual rights, which would undermine one of our country's primary values.

We should be able to negotiate our salaries based on what it's value is, but that also means that the company's need to keep in mind how much value does that job have in benefitting their vision of the "common good"? Will it have large effects, and what is the individual's choice about this, is also in the 'mix".

We all must have reasons to do the things we do. And in our free society, we can have choices. Some of us have more choices than others. That is unfortunately, the market's downside.

Charity is also a "free choice", which unfortunately, even those in our pews do not tithe. So, in regards to the free market economy and the "common good", it is up to the individual and the company to choose where, how much and when...as it will negotiate interests of both parties...

Ken Schenck said...

It's hard for me to see how the owner of the local Ace Hardware could do worse for investors than Bernie Madoff or the CEO of Countrywide.

Angie Van De Merwe said...

You are correct. Wim was just looking at a video on the news this morning. His comment? People choose the most incompetant people to do some jobs...yes, comptency, is also in view and we've seen a lot of incompetence in our lifetime.

As far as Bernie, he would have been considered in the business world, as shrewd and in the Christian world as "making friends of unrighteous mammon", "being a steward", etc....Ethics as a whole has been at a loss across the Christian as well as the business world...that should change!

Kurt Beard said...

These caps level the wall between the private sector and government which will hopefully mean some of the most talented individuals will not have money standing in the way to government service. This also means the greedy individuals won't have an incentive to stay away from government and may jump on the boat so they can be wined and dinned by lobbyists.

Ken Schenck said...

Of course this only applies to companies the government is actually bailing out because of failure...

Angie Van De Merwe said...

Those of you who think that government is the answer to limiting costs, are sadly mistaken! This was what my husband won a citation for this past year in the State Department. It upset him so much to see the waste, but beauracracy has no other way to function, as the bigger, the more difficult it is to police, and even in policing...means extra jobs to police...etc. etc....
Government expenditures on travel, for instance, is just as large as any company...
So, we have worked in the government sector in the military, government medical school, and government fellowship...and we enjoyed each one, but have chosen a small Christian university near our children because of the value of educating the next generation and being next to "our next generation".

I am sure that if there was an opportunity to go back to government because of a great need that this would be considered.

In furthre regards to Bernie, his was the "way of life" for most Americans...use someone else's money, or the government's money to invest to make money...etc...which sometimes causes a limitation to caution, because there is no risk to oneself in investing another person's money...Bernie was a "wise" man according to the free market...(I am for the free market, by the way..)

John Mark said...

Well, what I want to know is whether or not all these fat cats have been paying their taxes? You know, in case they are nominated for a high level office in the Obama administration.

heh, heh.......