Rich people don't care about You or I and their ruthlessness is merely a product of being Dense Pt. 1...

I originally planned today's blog to focus on several issues I haven't thoroughly addressed yet on my blog that really define America today (two party politics, religion, consumerism, entertainment) but I had to change it when I saw this headline:

"Merrill [Lynch]'s John Thain seeking 2008 bonus of $10 million."

John Thain is the CEO of Merrill Lynch. Some of you may or may not know this but Merrill Lynch had to merge with Bank of America a few months ago to avoid filing for bankruptcy.

Now, if you read my last blog you know that I touched on the topic of why anyone in a failing business or who is fired should be compensated is beyond me. If your business closes down or you're fired, you get your pension (if you have one) and that's it. Why should it be any different for company CEO's? Because they live lavish, expensive lifestyles? Big deal. If you or I lose our jobs we have to deal with the cold hard economics of readjusting our lifestyles to make sure we still have food in our stomachs and a roof over our heads. Mr. Big Shot might not be able to afford his yacht or to pay the cost maintaining a fleet of cars or all his homes so we should give him a large compensation to keep him afloat until he doesn't have to dive into his savings anymore? If he can't afford to pay his chef, he might just have to buy a loaf of bread, some bologna and cheese, and eat sandwiches for a while.

I don't understand giving any bonus to an executive in charge of a company that failed under their watch. Maybe they had problems before him caused by the mismanagement of the company by others. But he was brought in to fix this situation or at least stop the bleeding. He failed at this. For those of you who think merging and saving the company is stopping the bleeding it isn't. A merge is a last resort for a company who doesn't want their executives to lose their jobs, to avoid cutting too many jobs, or from having to declare bankruptcy.

I decided to save this tidbit for last. Mr. Thain reasons that he "deserves a bonus because he helped avert what could have been a much larger crisis at the firm."

If the company has some sympathy and decides to give a bonus to a CEO because he did everything he could to avoid merging or bankruptcy, then I guess that's their perrogative. But $10 million? Where does that money come from? This company is in such dire straits financially yet they have $10 million in reserves available to just write a check to their failed top dog? Hell, I think the fact that he will run the merged company's global banking, securities and wealth management businesses after the merger is complete is a pretty nice bonus. I guess that position doesn't pay as well as CEO...he might not be able to eat his caviar and filet mignon regularly. He's in luck though, now that Wendy's is offering the "Gourmet" Mushroom and Swiss Burger now, he can eat high end for much cheaper.

From my understanding from working for a company with some authority, bonuses were not mandatory. They are just what the name implies...a bonus in addition to your regular pay. To expect one is to expect your work and contributions to your employer to be beyond expectations and to be rewarded for doing so. From my understanding he has done neither, especially sense he won't even be on Bank of America's Board of Directors afterwards. Apparently someone else besides myself can recognize a failure when they show up.

The link to the story is here: (http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20081208/ts_nm/us_merrill_bonus)

Keep checking back, this is the beginning of a much bigger entry on how rich and wealthy take our tax dollars and enrich themselves at our expense.