Not Time To Make Profits......

"There will be time for them to make profits and time for them to make bonuses. Now is not that time." President Barack Obama

When is the right time to make a profit? Did he really say that? Listen to it up to the very end.



Yep! He said it. Now is not the time to make profits. I thought that profits were a good thing in a capitalist society. I thought that a positive profit and even a lesser loss than previous periods were a good thing! Hmmmm. Am I over thinking this? Maybe government issues legislation to tell all companies when the time will be right again to make a profit and pay bonuses.

I think it would have been a responsible thing for the President to contact those Wall Street executives by phone to find out what is really going on. These bonuses were probably part of a legal contract with the executives that received them. Whenever I have received a bonus from my job I always had to meet certain levers to activate them to get paid. Bonuses are not always paid because you made a profit. They can be paid to an executive to limit the losses otherwise the company may be in worst condition than when it started. In order for these bonuses to be "shameful" as Mr. Obama has stated then we definitely need to know what the parameters were to trigger their payout. Pick up the phone Mr. President. I am sure that Mr. Lewis (Bank of America) or Mr. Prince (Citi Group)or any of the other financial institution leaders will take your call. You are not campaigning anymore. You are the President. Remember: "I won!" They will take your call. No need for the soundbites.

Never mind that not all of these companies asked for nor wanted any government bailout. Mr. Bush's Treasury Secretary, Henry Paulson, pulled them into a room and basically told them that they could not leave until they signed away part ownership of their company to the Federal Government in exchange they were forced to take bailout money.

C'mon Mr. Obama. Make a call. Pick up the phone!

That's my word. What's yours. Post your comment.

Will We Have A Maximum Wage Initiative?

Coming to a workplace near you…..

The Maximum Wage

On May 25, 2007, President George W. Bush, signed into law a bill that permitted the rise of the Federal Minimum Wage. This was historic because the minimum wage had not been increased in over 10 years. The AFL-CIO argued that the minimum wage earner had not had a raise for 10 years. Common sense would dispute that reasoning as no one would work for the same rate for 10 years at any job. The bill was hotly debated by our representatives and Mr. Bush signed this legislation partly because it included funding for the War on Terror in Iraq. The minimum wage was increased in .70¢ increases over three years. Currently the Federal Minimum Wage is $6.55 with another increase in July of this year to $7.25. We can debate the economic impact of the minimum wage some other time.

I bring this up because of all of the hoopla recently over executive compensation at corporations around the country. My thoughts are that if the Federal Government can set a lawfully mandated minimum wage then what is preventing it from setting a lawfully mandated maximum wage. Our economic life has been turned upside down over the past several months with a $700B bailout of our financial markets (and more to come), requests by the automotive industry for bailout money and now states and local municipalities readying to lobby Congress for their bailout.

The primary reason anyone is raising any ire on executive compensation is because of the amount of money the CEO’s received as their companies began to fail. When we hear that General Motors CEO, G. Richard Wagoner, Jr. received compensation of $10M, there is some sense of disgust. No one looks at the fact that Mr. Wagoner did not set his compensation, his bonuses nor his equity positions in General Motors. They were all determined by an executive compensation committee, approved by a board of directors and negotiated by Mr. Wagoner’s representative prior to taking the job. His actual salary is $1.6M along with $1.8M in bonuses and non-equity compensation making his total cash compensation at $3.4M. I am sure that in his bonus calculations there are certain levers that must be met to achieve different parts of that bonus. These were either negotiated or decided by the compensation team to incent the leader to perform. Bank of America’s Kenneth D. Lewis received $1.5M base salary, $4.3M bonus and non-equity for total cash compensation of $5.8M. He does have an equity position (options and stock awards) worth $15.6M. However, as the stock market goes so does the value of his stock awards. Of the mentioned CEO’s they both are contracted and are entitled to their compensation by contract or the company could be in for a legal battle which it would certainly lose unless they could prove blatant mismanagement.

Yet the Congress, President and the American public demand that Executive compensation be “brought into line”. In line with what I ask? These people are asked to run these companies and to take the necessary risk to build wealth for their investors (you and me as stock holders via our mutual funds, 401K and pension funds). To run a comparison on salaries lets see if you can attribute these salaries to the correct person:

a.) $8M Total compensation. $5M base with $3M bonus
b.) $27.7M Total compensation. $2.5M base with $25.2M bonus.
c.) $15.0M Total compensation. $1.0M base $10.4M bonus/non equity $3.6M equity.
d.) $10.0M Total compensation. $8.5M base $1.5M bonus.
e.) $1 Total compensation
f.) $21.7M Total compensation. $2.0M base $7.0M bonus/non equity $11.3 equity
g.) $14.0M Total compensation. $1.9M base $12.1M bonus.
h.) $23.4M Total compensation
i.) $28.0M Total compensation

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Answers to above:
a.) Tom Brady, Quarterback New England Patriots
b.) Ben Roethlisberger, Quarterback Pittsburg Steelers
c.) Charles O. Prince, CEO Citi Group, Inc.
d.) Eli Manning, Quarterback New York Giants
e.) Steve Jobs, CEO Apple (only $1 in compensation)
f.) Alan Mulally, CEO Ford Motor Company
g.) Randy Moss, Wide Receiver New England Patriots
h.) Jason Giambi, Designated Hitter New York Yankees
i.) Alex Rodriguez, Third Baseman New York Yankees

The reason that I have included the compensation of the professional athletes here is because I am not hearing a congressional outcry on their pay. Their compensation is negotiated by agents, agreed to by a team owner and may include bonuses (some guaranteed) and levers to achieve those bonuses. Some levers could be making the All-Star team or Pro-Bowl, becoming the rookie of the year or even leading the league in rushing yards or scoring. You see the market determines their pay and they get to keep it whether their team wins a championship or not. The Yankees have one of the highest payrolls in the professional sports but has not won a championship in eight years. Yet they pay two players over $51M and these guys get to keep it all. And all of these millionaire players are represented by a player union to ensure that they continue to get maximum pay. Yeah, I know that MLB, NFL, NBA or NHL have not asked for a bailout....yet! So why can’t CEO’s get their compensation negotiated and agreed to in advance. The difference is that if the board decides a CEO is not performing they let him go “pursue other interests”. Well it may also be that many of these same companies are asking the Imperial Federal Government for taxpayer relief to save their beleaguered asses. Are these executives paid more than their employees? Hell yeah they are. If the guy putting the wheels on the Chevy Tahoe could run the company, then promote him and pay him as well but he can’t and he does not have the fortitude nor the skill to lead a multi-national corporation. You pay for success or you wind up with mediocrity. Will salaries going forward be looked at more closely? You bet. With Congressional oversight executive pay will be challenged at every stage and many of America’s proud corporations will disappear with mediocre leadership. You get what you pay for.

Some will argue that if these men and women were so smart then why are their companies failing? Well, other than the U.S. Military, what part of Government is efficient yet we want these people to regulate salaries of the successful. Yes, it pains me to see a failed C-Level executive leave a company that he/she has failed to make into a success and go lead another company. Remember that he is not hiring himself. The new company saw something in this executive to want to have him to lead their company. That is the same for a professional quarterback. The Greenbay Packers have not been to the Super Bowl since 1998 yet they stuck with Bret Favre until 2008 where he was finally traded to the New York Jets and the Jets did not make the playoffs this year. So did the Jets hire a failure at quarterback? Was Bret Favre a failure? Do not give me 22 players on a football field argument. The same goes for a corporation.

So if we allow the Congress of the United States of America to set a minimum wage then what is preventing them from setting a maximum wage? Not a thing. And if you think that they will settle on executive salaries then you are dead wrong. In order to move to a more socialist society then wages have to be fair. And to be fair, your job and your salary may be set to a maximum so that you do not out earn those who are less educated, less motivated or less fortunate than yourself. Remember it is all about Fairness and Spreading the Wealth.

That’s my word but not the final word. Post your thoughts.

What is an African-American?

I had a friend, years ago, when asked to identify his race on a job application or other school form he would always say that it was not there and would check other. He however would write in HUMAN.

So as I watched today’s inauguration of President Barack Obama, I couldn’t help but wonder aloud who or what is really an African-American. No matter what channel I switched to I kept hearing these words “first African-American President.” I have long been an opponent of the term that was coined in 1988. Jesse Jackson, who was never voted into any position of leadership by me, said that we should start calling ourselves this to identify with our heritage as a race. The media immediately ate it up and the new lexicon was born.

My long term thoughts have been that the term African-American was reserved for Black Americans who were descendants of slavery. And if that is the case then by definition Barack Obama is not an African-American. His father was a Kenyan immigrant, yeah I know Kenya is in Africa, and his mother a white American. The Black part of him was not a descendant of slavery in America, logic would say that Obama is not an African-American.

The term itself is so confusing that white people and the media try to apply it to all Black folk that they encounter or have any conversation about. Here is how it becomes confusing. Lenox Lewis has been regularly mislabeled by columnists as being African American. You see, Mr. Lewis is a black heavyweight boxer and if you saw him you would even say so too. Yet the moment he speaks you would clearly say that boy ain’t from around here is he? Lewis is British. The same has happened to Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton. Who too looks like me, walks like me but speaks with a funny accent. He too is from Great Britain. He was given the distinct honor of being the first African-American to win a Formula One race. ESPN had to issue a retraction to that story. It’s not only athletes that have had to deal with this form of political correctness. Thandie Newton and Naomi Campbell have both been referred to as African-American.

So what do we say to our African immigrants who work hard to get here? Start living the “American Dream” and become naturalized citizens of this country. Now if you ask me they are African Americans. Born in Africa and became an American citizen. Yet we tell this group oooh nooo! You can’t be a part of this club because you have not had to struggle like our ancestors. Never mind that they only came here because of some struggle in their own country in the first place like genocide, lack of education, starvation or poverty. We have to assume that everyone on the continent of Africa is Black which is not the case. What about our cousins from the Caribbean countries? What do we call them?

The term is so politically correct that this headline appeared at www.physorg.com : African-American Canadians who receive kidney transplants fare better than those in US. OK so when did African-Americans start being Canadians? Hence the word American. See what happens when we try to make things so politically correct that we make it politically stupid. Please tell your white friends that it is OK to call us Black. I can identify with that, you don’t have to try to figure out if you used the term correctly and it doesn’t make you sound uppity. And tell your uppity Black ones that its OK for them too!

Urban Dictionary online has one definition as: What white people say when they’re afraid to say black especially when a black person is in the room.

So is Barack Obama the first African-American POTUS? You judge it. I prefer to say that he is the first Black President of the United States. Does this mean that Colin Powell was not the first African-American Secretary of State? Yup… His parents were immigrants from Jamaica. None of this discounts the history that was made by both men but it calls into question what is an African-American and who can lay claim to being one?

Keep your hyphenated labels off of me. In the words of James Brown, “…I’m Black and I’m proud.”

Standing in the Schoolhouse Door

Flashback…June 11, 1963. Keeping a campaign promise, then Democratic Governor of Alabama, George C. Wallace “stood in the schoolhouse door” to block James A. Hood and Vivian J. Malone from registering at the University of Alabama. You see Hood and Malone did nothing wrong other than have the audacity to think that they could become students at the University of Alabama. Oh, did I forget to mention that they both are Black. How dare two Negroes [that is what they called us then] want to enter our prestigious institution of higher learning and sit in the same classroom with our white children. Wallace stood in the door until the federalized Alabama National Guard was called in by President John Kennedy to break up this “perception of freedom gone wild.”

Governor Wallace had been a staunch segregationist who was catering to his constituency. Wallace and Alabama had become the face of segregation and hate during the Civil Rights movement. I guess Mr. Wallace was getting back at the Blacks for supporting him in his first bid to become Governor in 1958. Wallace had refused the support of the Ku Klux Klan but accepted that of the NAACP and later lost his election bid in a runoff to John Patterson. This put him on his path of socio-political ideology of segregation. Remember that this Democrat made this statement as well “In the name of the greatest people that have ever trod this earth, I draw the line in the dust and toss the gauntlet before the feet of tyranny, and I say segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever."

So much for the history lesson!

Let’s fast forward to December 30, 2008. Governor Rod Blagojevich named former Illinois Attorney General, Roland Burris, to replace President-elect Barack Obama in the U.S. Senate. Why and who cares? Well most of Americans now know the names of the governors of Alaska and Illinois because of our mass media. Blagojevich is the Illinois governor who was recorded by the F. B. I. trying to sell or trade to the highest bidder the Senate seat vacated by the election of Obama to the Presidency. The Illinois state government is currently holding hearings on how they can impeach this governor and many have asked for his resignation (including Obama) which the governor has refused to do. Since he is still the governor of Illinois and he has the authority and power to appoint whomever he feels to the U.S. Senate seat that is now vacant. This power is granted him by the laws of the state of Illinois. Oh and did I fail to mention that Burris is Black!

Herein lays the rub!

Are the Democrats “standing in the schoolhouse door” again?
Senate Majority leader Harry Reid has stated that he (the Senate) would not seat Mr. Burris. He indicated that Mr. Burris was “tainted” by Governor Blagojevich. Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois also indicated that the U.S. Senate would not seat Mr. Burris even though the Illinois governor has the authority to appoint whomever yet the Senate has the right to determine if the person was chosen in a legal manner. Are the Democrats not seating Burris because of his skin color? There have only been three Black U.S. Senators in the modern era: Edward Brooke of Massachusetts (1967-1979), Carol Mosley Braun of Illinois (1993-1999) and Barack Obama of Illinois (2005-2008). Burris would represent the fourth.

I doubt that this is a racial issue although Mr. Reid is such a knucklehead and has backed off and now considers some form of negotiation to seat Mr. Burris. As for Mr. Burris his ego is so large that he did not think this thing out. I would not want the guilt by association tag. But I guess Mr. Burris wanted to be a Senator more than life itself, being that he has run for Mayor of Chicago, Senator and three times for governor and lost each time. Appointment is the next best thing for the resume. He was elected as the States first black executive as Comptroller and later as Attorney General. But where are his antennae? We do not convert to digital TV until February 19 so I know his TV is working. Good luck you Mr. Burris. You will be the next Senator from Illinois. Your appointment is legal and Harry Reid knows it.

U.S. Automotive Bailout

Enough already!

The automotive industry should not expect a bailout package.

The American taxpayer is already on the hook for over $700 billion dollars in the current financial market meltdown. How much more can a man bear? The automotive industry should have foreseen their problems with soaring gasoline prices throughout the country. Demand for the vehicles that they were making started to dwindle yet they did nothing to improve their business model except bury their heads in the sand.

We have to step up our pressure on Congress to let them know that the US treasury cannot become the lender of last resort for failed business models. Congress approved $15 billion in bailout to the airline industry post September 11. This was money guaranteed to an industry where only a handful of players, Southwest and Continental to name two, had cash on hand to survive the downturn and passenger fear of flying prior to the terrorist acts. All the while not one dime was spent bailing out all of the dot com business failures in 2000 and 2001. I would have loved to see Web Van survive.

Should the auto industry be allowed to enter bankruptcy? Probably would be the best answer. For at least as an entity in bankruptcy they can continue to operate as a debtor in possession and restructure debt and contracts to allow for a stronger company post bankruptcy. Yeah, the shareholders of these organizations would lose out but the investors knew that going in. Buying stocks is a risky business and not all investments are good investments.

Who else would lose? The unions most certainly would stand to lose. Contracts could become void or re-negotiated to make for a more favorable business climate. Waste would be eliminated throughout but innovation would be increased. There would be the human toll of possible loss jobs.

Should retailers such as Linens n Things, Circuit City, Mervyns, and Tweeter ask for a bailout because of their inability to survive in a competitive yet challenging economy? Sure why not, these companies are no less important as the U.S. automakers. Should we bail this industry out we send another signal to all other industries that if you cannot succeed then the taxpayer has your back. This has to stop and has to stop now. .

Instead of interfering with the market forces, Congress must find a way for the automotive industry to fast track themselves through the bankruptcy and reorganization procedures.

What about Honda, BMW and Toyota? They too operate in the US. Yet they are not lining up to get their check. Hmmmmm, I wonder why?