Wednesday, February 25, 2026
Somebody oughtta do somethin!!
How is it that a corporate CEO can make millions of dollars per year and millions more in bonuses and then feel justified in laying off people in his company to bump up the share price for the shareholders? Don’t the shareholders realize that, at some point, they could boost their own share price, invest directly in their own companies, and make more profit by having a nimble, well-trained, and well-staffed company? At least they would if it weren’t the same 250 people on every board in every company in America. There is no glass ceiling anymore; it’s an ASS ceiling.
In the same train of thought, why is it that the news will report that a company laid off thousands of people, or closed a plant, or sold a whole division, and that bumps up the share price? Seems to me that bad news (less capacity and fewer employees to do the work) should key the directors and the shareholders in on the fact that they have the wrong upper management in the first place.
Seems to me they ought to hold the CEO responsible for the problem, not the hourly staff. The CEO can hang on for 10 years, and he has a contract they have to buy him out of to get rid of him. Us? It’s a greased banana, and don’t let the door hit you in the ass on the way out.
It makes very little practical sense to fire older workers because of high wages and hire younger workers because of low wages, because doing so makes the purchasing power of the money they are paid (the younger workers) worth less. You earn less, everything costs more, and your dollar doesn’t go as far as it used to. Global warming? Yeah, after we burn all the couches, chairs, and dinner tables to keep warm, maybe.
In companies like the ones I just alluded to, the CEOs share a common personality type. They think, for some strange reason, that laying off people, constantly firing, and constant criticism will shake up the place and make people more productive. I just don’t get it. What happens when you constantly shake up the place is that everybody starts looking for a way to protect their job and keeps their head down, with very little effort going towards getting productive work done in the first place. Dilbert makes more and more sense every day.
For some years now, corporate America has been chasing a share
price at the expense of everything else. We have almost wiped out our ability
to manufacture everything from tube socks to washing machines in our quest for
lower costs and higher share prices. Large retailers like Wal-Mart have
contributed to this idiocy for a long time, and I’ve yet to hear anyone ask the
question that seems pretty obvious.
How are we going to buy anything in this new “World Economy” if we don’t have anywhere to work that pays a decent wage and if there are no companies left to be loyal to? What are we supposed to be loyal to now anyway? A Brand? “Yes ma’am, I’d like one TIDE t-shirt and two pairs of Viagra socks, please.” Get a grip!
See, the thing is, we are in the middle of a fallacy that is a
downward spiral. Fewer jobs mean fewer opportunities for money. Less money means
less purchasing. Less purchasing is a negative economic trend. We will not be
able to buy anything made in China for a while because we won’t have any money
to buy it with. Who are all these poor third-world nations going to sell to if
they can’t sell to us? I couldn’t tell as I am late for my shift at McDonald’s.
Today is dumpster clean-out night, and the kids are starving!!
Thankx for reading my rant,
Bigmike
