Big Business

Big Business

I suppose when it comes down to it, big business is really not the enemy. But what they certainly are is the epitome of financial greed. I realized years ago that corporate executives no longer focus on producing the goods or services that the companies are in business to produce. Their entire focus was, and still is, on growing the value of the stock. Naturally, if you ask a proponent of this phenomenon they will tell you that the two are one and the same. But you don’t have to look very far to find facts of this just not being true! If you look at the history of some large companies over the past 25 years you will see that their basic production of goods or services has increased very little but the stock value has increased substantially. What has happened in many cases is they have bought out the competition and/or assets that would increase the value of their stock. Try going to or listening in on business meetings of any big company and about the only thing you will hear discussed is the price of their stock & their PE ratio, and how to improve both. You will hear very little of how they intend to improve or increase their output to meet demand. And why is this?

Twenty-five years ago a CEO was in place much longer than a CEO is today. He was around long enough to face the consequences of his decisions. Therefore, he generally made decisions that he thought would benefit the company as a whole for the long-term. But the CEO’s of today have insisted that the company sign a contract with them that is short-term (4-5 years) and guarantees them tens of millions of dollars, and in some cases hundreds of millions of dollars, regardless of how well the company does. In many cases the CEO’s bonus’ are tied to the price of the stock. So to insure his large bonus’ he concentrates on the value of the stock. And when his decisions turned out to be detrimental to the company in the long run, he already has his ransom money and long gone before anyone notices.

Not to degrade a particular generation, but I recall talking to an associate & friend of mine in the company I worked for in 1980. The Yuppie generation was just beginning to emerge. I asked him what was up with this Yuppie generation. I continued on by saying that they seem to be the most impatient generation I had ever seen. They wanted instant success. No only that, but they seem to not only want their share of the American pie but also wanted everyone else’s share. My friends’ response puzzled me at first, but then I got it. His reply was “wait until they are sitting in the board rooms of American”.

Just recently there was a report that some CEO’s salary & compensations were ten times the amount of the next guy in line in the company. Just this fact alone speaks volumes about the arrogance and greed of CEO’s. And to get those kinds of compensations, they have no problem destroying the careers of hundreds, even thousands, of employees with lay offs that they claim are necessary to keep the company solvent; and this on top of historic profits. Their raping of a company & the American people seems to be acceptable in today’s society. Bill Gates of Microsoft is slapped on the back of his hand for his net worth more than these other CEO’s, but the fact is Bill Gates captained his company from infancy to what it is today. These CEO’s I speak of just kind of “showed up” after the company was a success.