The United States system of free enterprise has made this nation one of the wealthiest in the world. To quote from Wikipedia, “free enterprise is another term for capitalism.” In this system we recognize the ability and right of everyone to earn as much money as possible regardless of their race, color, religion, or national origin.
A consequence of free enterprise is the accumulation of extraordinary wealth by some very smart and lucky people. They are the 1% of Americans who own 33.4% of the nation’s wealth.
If the stockholders of Google have no problem with four of their top executives each receiving 2008 bonuses of more than $1.2 million then why should the rest of us care?
I contend that the wealthy have gained control of the nation’s resources without the consent of the stockholders. After all, take a look at the people on the board of directors of the various corporations. They are not minor stockholders. They are executives in other large corporations. They ignore the will and intent of stockholders in order to help each other help themselves to extraordinary pay and bonus packages. BusinessWeek reported that the average income of top executives in major corporations is $4,000 per hour. How many of you reading this column has earned that amount of money?
The recent failure of the largest banks, investment houses, and auto manufacturers is the result of mismanagement by those overpaid executives! However, since this is a free enterprise society those managers will continue to receive their high pay. Only the stockholders can change this situation. That change may require new laws that will give more power to the shareholders
There is one limit that does seem fair. When AIG, Bank of America, General Motors and the others who have come to the government for ask help from the tax payers, those tax payers have the right to limit pay, parties, and other perks.
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