Japan Airlines CEO

[MarkE]

Serious question .... if you were put into a position tomorrow, and offered a job where you'd be making millions, would you take it? Would you quit that job, or not take it, thus turning away that kind of money, because people working below you, or around you, are making much less?

I think it really becomes easy to "talk the talk" about "walking the walk", until you are put into a position to actually make, and have that kind of money. Many condemn these CEOs, but I'd bet that many of the same people who condemn them, would do the same thing, if in the same position, looking at that kind of money. It really is amazing how money can change people.

When the company is doing well, is profitable, workers are not being laid off, salaries are rising then I have no problem with CEOs making that kind of money. But when the company starts taking a dump and these CEOs are still raking in the big bucks and giving themselves bonuses that's where it gets shady.

 

[KLB]

Serious question .... if you were put into a position tomorrow, and offered a job where you'd be making millions, would you take it? Would you quit that job, or not take it, thus turning away that kind of money, because people working below you, or around you, are making much less?

I think it really becomes easy to "talk the talk" about "walking the walk", until you are put into a position to actually make, and have that kind of money. Many condemn these CEOs, but I'd bet that many of the same people who condemn them, would do the same thing, if in the same position, looking at that kind of money. It really is amazing how money can change people.

I wouldn't mind being paid millions if the company was prosperous and the people below me are getting paid a fair wage.

But if the company is doing badly and the people below me are taking paycuts and concessions...I should also be taking a paycut and concessions. I certainly shouldn't be getting bonuses. I couldn't do that in good conscious. I would never be so greedy to prosper off of other peoples suffering.

We suffer together and we prosper together.

 

[yoman793]

a true champion! I just added JAL to my list of hopefull airline jobs i would like to attain one day. living in Japan might be nice for a while. especially if the company i work for has top management that gets the "big picture". one can only wish that his practices can make an impact on CEO's in US big business.

 

[Polymox]

I've just read in the newspaper that JAL will have a training facility in Moses Lake.

They have had one there for 40 years, but it's closing in February 2009. They say it'll reopen when the 787 arrives, but rumor has it that's unlikely.

 

[skydog]

Screw what the employees say. I want to know why the Board of Directors and the shareholders are not clamoring for the removal of Tilton and other top managers. United hasn't shown a profit in almost a decade. Clearly they're not getting the job done. If any line or staff employee had job performance like that they would have been fired years ago.

I don't give a damn what the CEO gets paid as long as he is doing the job.

 

[skydog]

When the company is doing well, is profitable, workers are not being laid off, salaries are rising then I have no problem with CEOs making that kind of money. But when the company starts taking a dump and these CEOs are still raking in the big bucks and giving themselves bonuses that's where it gets shady.

You could have stopped after "is profitable." Regardless of profits, if the employee doesn't have the skillset or competent performance that the company needs, you have to let them go. Likewise, you don't have to raise salaries when people are lined up around the block trying to get a job. Those aren't problems, just life in the business world. It's when companies are laying people off, cutting salaries, and still losing money that I have a problem with CEO pay and perks.

 

[CAPIP1998]

But if the company is doing badly and the people below me are taking paycuts and concessions...I should also be taking a paycut and concessions.

KLB,

No disrespect, and this isn't about you personally. I just wanted to use your post to point out what I feel is the root problem here. The concept that the employees of a company are BELOW the manager's is at the heart of the problem here in the US. It's all about attitude, and I would bet a month's paycheck (admittedly not much) that this CEO doesn't feel that his employees are below him. He goes to work and does his job, and doesn't need to feel like he is above everybody else at work. This is the concept that most US companies fail to grasp.

 

[CrippleHawk]

Airline CEOs in the US are sadly out of touch with reality (especially Glenn Tilton who once said that UA employee moral is "not his concern"). Their philosophy
is simply more money for themselves and less for the workers and consumers. IF they did We will be way ahead of the game.

THey do not care about their companies at all. They are just their
to make their millions with bonuses etc and run. But we all know this.


Having said that. MY hats off for Haruka Nishimatsu

http://www.glenntilton.com/newsarti...slashes-his-pay-below-that-of-pilots-cnn.html[/quote]

 

[rausda27]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081122/ap_on_bi_ge/eu_sweden_payless_ceo

STOCKHOLM, Sweden – Lars G. Nordstrom isn't the only CEO being criticized these days for earning too much money during the world financial crisis. But he may be one of the few who has reacted by deciding to work for free.
Since becoming head of the Swedish postal service in July, Nordstrom has been paid 900,000 kronor ($110,000) a month. And that is on top of the millions he receives in a retirement package from his previous job as chief executive officer of the banking group Nordea AB.
The Swedish media have criticized Nordstrom for making more money as CEO of Sweden's Posten Sverige AB than 45 letter carriers do, and seven times more than Sweden's prime minister.
On Saturday, Nordstrom said in a TV interview that he will give back all the money he has earned with the postal service and work for free from now on.
He said the debate over his pay has been damaging to the company and its staff, and he just "doesn't like indications that I am greedy."

 

[aloft]

...yea, most of these things mentioned in the video are more cultural. Japanese businesses are largely a family environment. Japanese culture stresses the group over the individual.

But...but....that's Socialism!

 

[aloft]

To be fair, there are a few CEOs who don't just talk the talk of shared sacrifice but walk the walk. Jerry Yang's pay at Yahoo

I believe Steve Jobs has a similar salary.

Yeah, these aren't the noble gestures you make them out to be.

The actual salary of a CEO is but a small part of their actual compensation. Steve Jobs might only have a salary of $1, but he gets millions and millions in stock options and bonuses. The CEO of a company I used to work at made a big deal of decreasing his salary to $1...and then quietly granted himself a bunch of new stock options a few months later.

And does everyone know why CEOs like Yang and Jobs do this? I'll give you a hint: it has to do with the difference between the capital gains tax rate (currently 15%) and the tax bracket they'd be in if their total compensation were all salary-based. Yang and Jobs pay nothing in income tax since they only make an annual salary of $1, and instead of paying tax on their total compensation at a rate of 35%, they pay only at a rate of 15%.

Wouldn't it be great if the rest of us had the luxury of restructuring our compensation so we could pick and choose the tax rates we'll pay!

 

[killbilly]

Yeah, these aren't the noble gestures you make them out to be.



And does everyone know why CEOs like Yang and Jobs do this? I'll give you a hint: it has to do with the difference between the capital gains tax rate (currently 15%) and the tax bracket they'd be in if their total compensation were all salary-based. Yang and Jobs pay nothing in income tax since they only make an annual salary of $1, and instead of paying tax on their total compensation at a rate of 35%, they pay only at a rate of 15%.

Wouldn't it be great if the rest of us had the luxury of restructuring our compensation so we could pick and choose the tax rates we'll pay!

Jobs received a Gulfstream V.

http://www.smartmoney.com/investing/stocks/options-schmoptions-lets-talk-about-the-jet-7413/

He does have to pay taxes on that.

 

[skydog]

Yeah, these aren't the noble gestures you make them out to be.



And does everyone know why CEOs like Yang and Jobs do this? I'll give you a hint: it has to do with the difference between the capital gains tax rate (currently 15%) and the tax bracket they'd be in if their total compensation were all salary-based. Yang and Jobs pay nothing in income tax since they only make an annual salary of $1, and instead of paying tax on their total compensation at a rate of 35%, they pay only at a rate of 15%.

Wouldn't it be great if the rest of us had the luxury of restructuring our compensation so we could pick and choose the tax rates we'll pay!

It'd be better if we had a flat tax rate so that people wouldn't need or have to restruture they compensation to avoid confiscatory tax rates

 

[aloft]

It'd be better if we had a flat tax rate so that people wouldn't need or have to restruture they compensation to avoid confiscatory tax rates

:whatever:

 

[tonyw]

And does everyone know why CEOs like Yang and Jobs do this? I'll give you a hint: it has to do with the difference between the capital gains tax rate (currently 15%)

Except you can't take capital gains if there ain't none.

Right now, there aren't any capital gains for Yang. I don't know if that's the case for Jobs, but based on the performance of Apple's stock, it's not likely.

I'm all for stock based compensation for C-level execs in the form of long term options or restricted stock they can't sell for several years. That way, their interests are aligned with the interests of long term shareholders. That's how it's supposed to be.

It'd be better if we had a flat tax rate so that people wouldn't need or have to restruture they compensation to avoid confiscatory tax rates

That'll happen right when I get a check from the Treasury from the TARP.

There isn't a single politician who is viable on the national level who supports the flat tax. The only thing that politicians who can succeed on the national level argue about when it comes to the progressive taxation system is what the percentages should be. No viable politician supports doing away with the progressive taxation system.