Reply #5: Something has sure gone wrong [View All]

[Joe Bacon]

Here I am a 52 year old, remembering growing up in Ambridge PA in the 60s. Back then, my Dad only had to work one 8-hour shift in the mill, Mom didn't have to work and Dad made enough to buy a house, car and keep food on the table. Back in the 60s, if you were lucky enough to get in a mill at 18 and work 40 years straight you could get out at 58 with a decent pension and health care.

All that died right after Reagan got in and "free trade" was implemented. In 1983, all the mills in Western PA shut down for good. Folks who were a year or 2 away from a pension got screwed. THen 2 years ago, folks who retired from J & L or American Bridge before the Reagan Fuckup had their health benefits terminated and their pensions cut by 2/3.

Now if you play by the rules you get screwed. Those who don't play by the rules and lie, cheat and steal are the ones who really get ahead, and the bigger liar you are, the more you rise in this economy. The more you fuck up the bigger your corporate bonus is and an even bigger corporation will let you drive them into the ground as well.

In Japan, if a corporate executive fucks up, that executive takes responsibility and resigns. Here, the same thing is handsomely rewarded.

What we need to do is link corporate executive pay to performance. If a Corporate executive drives a company into the ground they should get not one penny as a bonus. I would be willing to let them have a payout equivalent to the Social Security Wage cap, but not one penny more. If a corporation tries to give a failing executive a bonus, it should be taxed at 100% above the Social Security Wage Cap.