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Politics : Stockman Scott's Political Debate Porch -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: stockman_scott who wrote (10254)	12/11/2002 4:49:37 AM
From: thames_sider	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 89467

On the quality and pedigree of Bush appointees... Once again, Bush promotes a useless crony whose only talent is self-enrichment at other's cost. slate.msn.com Snow's record in business bears more resemblance to that of George W. Bush, marked by poor market performance and outsized compensation. In fact, like Vice President Dick Cheney, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, and OMB Director Mitch Daniels Jr., Snow is a skilled bureaucratic operator who sidled to the top level of a large company from government posts. As a rule, these access capitalists are prized not for their business acumen but for their ability to open doors in Washington and foreign capitals. They work primarily in highly regulated industries or in ones that depend largely on government contracts for their sustenance: defense, pharmaceuticals, oil, and, in Snow's case, railroads. ... As a businessman, however, Snow was mostly a bust. He successfully lobbied to have CSX gain a huge chunk of Conrail but then botched the execution of the merger. He also managed to have Washington block a merger of the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp. and Canadian National Railway Co. and forestalled efforts by freight customers to obtain better bargaining terms. But all that didn't translate into much for shareholders. In the past decade, CSX's stock is off 17 percent while the S&P 500 is up 111 percent. Snow is leaving the company with more debt than it has had at any time in the past seven years. Today CSX has difficulty generating sufficient cash to meet all its obligations. And this is the man President Bush has hired to manage the nation's debt? As Jesse Eisinger sharply notes in today's Wall Street Journal: "Mr. Snow is clearly a guy who understands deficit spending." Snow was also a champ when it came to executive compensation. In 12 years, as CSX shareholders experienced minimal returns, Snow took home at least $50 million. In 1996, he borrowed $25 million in company funds to buy stock. But when shares fell sharply, the company undid the loan in 2000. (So much for risk-taking.) Last year, when CSX underperformed all its railroad peers, he was paid $10.1 million. And he's not done. As the company's most recent proxy reads: "Mr. Snow will be provided with certain employee benefits and perquisites including office space and secretarial support, maintenance of country club memberships, executive physicals, discounts at The Greenbrier, and use of private aircraft for the remainder of his life." What's that you say? Slate is biassed? Well, it's owned by well-known lefties Microsoft. But it's OK, even Forbes is unimpressed. forbes.com Now, why would Bush feel at home with sub-competent greed merchants? LOL.