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To: portage who wrote (968)	9/10/2001 6:54:48 AM
From: Sam	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1715

Speaking of markets working, here is an article on how executive compensation has worked in recent years: Message 16321515 excerpt: <<The average annual pay package for Silicon Valley's top 150 executives mushroomed to $5.9 million last year, nearly double what it was one year earlier, according to a recent survey by the San Jose Mercury News. In contrast, the typical manufacturing worker earned $44,680 last year, according to New York-based research firm Towers Perrin. The rationale for sky-high tech CEO salaries, options and bonuses, of course, was that these supposedly talented leaders were driving their companies to new heights and creating shareholder value along the way. Now that the bottom has fallen out, however, it's pretty clear that many if not most of these corporate leaders were rewarded simply for being there, much like a lucky surfer catching a big wave. The real reason the members of Silicon Valley's higher echelon paid themselves so handsomely over the past few years is now abundantly clear, and it had nothing to do with their performance. They ran off with the money because they could -- and because no one stopped them. What's worse, there are no indications this trend is about to come to an end, because CEO compensation continues to rise even while corporate performances decline. Many of the CEOs leading Silicon Valley's worst-performing companies took home much more than $5.9 million last year. Cisco Systems CEO John T. Chambers, for example, banked $157.3 million during a period when the team he supervised miscalculated demand for Cisco's products by an astonishing $2.25 billion. That's more than half the company's total sales for the fourth quarter of last year. You can bet a Cisco accountant would have been harshly disciplined, if not fired on the spot, had she made an error one-millionth that size. Stories of incompetence, malfeasance and featherbedding by Silicon Valley executives are almost too numerous to recount. For example, I know of a once highly promising local firm where an outrageously paid CEO's six-month tenure did not include a single visit with a customer. Instead, the exec's secretary told me in confidence that her duties consisted mostly of arranging golf dates with the CEO's friends and booking his restaurant reservations and frequent vacation jaunts.>>