CdM's red post for the day

[Sheilbh]

It would be close-minded if they declined to examine the evidence that their proposition is patently false.

I'm not sure what we're talking about here.  Explain what the proposition and the evidence is.

[Admiral Yi]

I'm not sure what we're talking about here.  Explain what the proposition and the evidence is.

The senior Democrat on the House of Representatives oversight committee, Elijah Cummings, called for hearings on executive compensation "to examine the extent to which the problems in CEO compensation that led to the economic crisis continue to exist today."

By evidence I suppose I mean the lack of evidence.

[DGuller]

So that's what you were talking about?  Sometimes you can be so direct that it's just jarring.  That guy, of course, overstated the case.  However, I don't think that executive compensation and the increasingly dysfunctional financial system are completely independent of each other.

[Sheilbh]

By evidence I suppose I mean the lack of evidence.

Possibly, examining whether or not there is evidence surely can't help?  But yeah that's not one of the top three causes of the crisis.

But as I said earlier my view is that the outlandish renumeration at banks especially are symptoms rather than causes of the conditions for crisis.  And I think it's worth looking at.

[Admiral Yi]

So that's what you were talking about?  Sometimes you can be so direct that it's just jarring.  That guy, of course, overstated the case.  However, I don't think that executive compensation and the increasingly dysfunctional financial system are completely independent of each other.

Unless there was some causality that ran from executive compensation to the financial crisis, there's no case to overstate.  It's just wrong.

[The Minsky Moment]

I does appear that Congressman Cummings is not a likely finalist for the Riksbank prize.

[Ideologue]

I imagine there was a time when progressives would have been ashamed of intellectual dishonesty.

If they're concerned about income distribution, by all mean they should make that case (and there are several good arguments in their favor).  But don't pretend it has anything to do with the financial crisis.

If they think corporations should pay more taxes, by all means make that case, but don't pretend Boeing only paid $13 million in federal taxes in 2010.

Fine.  Wealth redistribution should be accelerated with heavy progressive income tax, Friedman's guaranteed income should be instituted for all American citizens, and Boeing should no longer pay any taxes, insofar as it should be nationalized completely and all current aircraft production switched to Stratofortresses and Stratofortress spare parts.

[The Minsky Moment]

Boeing should no longer pay any taxes, insofar as it should be nationalized completely and all current aircraft production switched to Stratofortresses and Stratofortress spare parts.

Then you could slap on the label "Airbus A380" on the Stratofortresses, and it would be just like EADS.

[Neil]

Fine.  Wealth redistribution should be accelerated with heavy progressive income tax, Friedman's guaranteed income should be instituted for all American citizens, and Boeing should no longer pay any taxes, insofar as it should be nationalized completely and all current aircraft production switched to Stratofortresses and Stratofortress spare parts.

But isn't the Stratofortress completely useless at this point?

Guaranteed income is silly anyways.   It makes more sense to just execute everyone who doesn't meet a minimum income.

[Siege]

You listening to Glen Beck now Yi?

No.

I do.

[The Brain]

I does appear that Congressman Cummings is not a likely finalist for the Riksbank prize.

[Habbaku]

Boeing should no longer pay any taxes, insofar as it should be nationalized completely and all current aircraft production switched to Stratofortresses and Stratofortress spare parts.

Then you could slap on the label "Airbus A380" on the Stratofortresses, and it would be just like EADS.

  An Air Force that's deprived of any real power, influence or relevancy?  Go on...

[Razgovory]

You listening to Glen Beck now Yi?

No.

I do.

He's a mormon.  To him, you are gentile.  Hell, he verges on anti-semitism in his rants (which is why Fox canceled his show).  And plugs anti-semetic books on show.

[Martinus]

But institutional shareholders are mostly pension funds and the like. They usually only care about the share price.

  Why would they not care about earnings, which are the ultimate determinate of share price?

Maybe in Poland there is no such thing as a dividend?

Most institutional shareholders are less interested in dividend and more in the earnings being reinvested so they can exit at a higher price.

[Martinus]

But institutional shareholders are mostly pension funds and the like. They usually only care about the share price.

  Why would they not care about earnings, which are the ultimate determinate of share price?

The CEO salary is not a big item on the EBITDA usually, and as others said, institutional shareholders' managers usually earn similarly to the CEOs, so they'd rather see the profitability increased elsewhere (e.g. by outsourcing to BRIC) than by cutting the pay of their peers.