THE CAPTAINS OF INDUSTRY

Michael Jeffries, Abercrombie & Fitch $71.8 Million
James W. Stewart, BJ Services Company $34.6 Million
Brian Roberts, Comcast Corp. $40.8 Million
John Faraci, International Paper $38.2 Million
Eugene Isenberg, Nabors Industries $79.3 Million

All are leaders in the business world! Those numbers after the companies they lead are their total compensation packages! That’s not all that makes them interesting. Each to a man, is leading his company down the toilet!

You still wonder how we got into this economic mess?

Politics has a lot to do with it, but not all of the mess is political. There are other pressures exerted by lobbyist and special interest, which cloak and support the failure of big businesses, while tying the hands of the small mom and pop operations.

Incredibly stupid tax laws, and obscene regulations by state and local governments add to the burden. I know there is a concept that we should tax the rich, but I wonder what that really does. The rich find the loopholes; the poor find the burdens, when the rich are taxed. If we were to give, tax breaks to businesses that invest the money they make into health plans, salary increases and reinvestment, that should be incentive, not punitive. How about those companies investing in the superstructures of this country? Pay for roads and education, lift the burden of taxes on the middle class, have the guts to pay their workers decent wages, and make this country better for all of us!

We have an issue with race, yet the profit makers don’t address getting into the communities and bringing people together. A lot of the race issue stems from not only bigotry, but: economic hardships, get big business to close that gap! You would be surprised how fast bigotry goes away when we all eat and prosper.

Those five individuals at the top: are no more successful than you or I would be, running those companies, if they are failing. Instead of removing them for their poor performances, they are highly compensated! Amazing!

Not to say that big business is the cause of all the problems in this country, and I don’t wish to politicize the issues, just point out the thinking out of the box that a profit can make, when used profitably for mankind.