John Mackey Quotes
CEO compensation seems at time excessive but it should be up to the shareholders and boards of directors.
Corporate CEO pay had traditionally been 5-15 times the average wage for the company. But it had changed to where in banks and financial companies the CEO pay was often 100-1000 times the average salary. This became a major political issue after the 2008 Meltdown. During the Great Recession some CEOs who had led the company to huge losses and then had to take government money to bail them out and prevent bankruptcy, took multimillion dollar salaries and huge bonuses while average salaries had gone down. There was a move for government to regulate CEO salaries. Macke argued for the position that would finally be taken.
John Macke, Co-Founder and CEO of Whole Foods, Debate, Las Vegas, Nevada, July 13, 2012
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
Mackey had taken a position that coincided with most Republicans and conservatives on the issue of CEO compensation. See {630245}. His opponent therefore assumed he was a Republican and called him such. This was his reply.
That has been the average perception well into the 21st century.
The huge salaries paid to CEO’s in the early 21st century became a major political issue during the George W. Bush administration in the wake of the Corporate scandals like Enron and the failure of the Government to prevent these frauds. The tax deductibility of the huge salaries also attracted political attention at a time when Bush policies had created the largest deficits in the history of the world.
High level financial industry executives were earnings millions of dollars even if the company did poorly. In many cases annual bonuses were paid even after the firm lost money and in some cases after the firm had to be sold to stave off bankruptcy. The worst thing in 2009 and 2010 was when some of the banks paid million dollar and more bonuses while the company was getting bailout money from the taxpayers to prevent their bankruptcy.
Greenspan and some others assumed that the shareholders and the executives who ran the financial institutions had the same vested interests. But the executives had disconnected themselves from the fate of the shareholders, by having Golden Parachutes to protect the executives even if the business failed and they were fired. And they got their bonuses immediately so by the time the authorities and the shareholders discovered that the profits the bonuses were paid for were illusory, the bonus money was safely stored in a secret offshore bank. But if things went wrong, there was always the play of getting a government bailout which would keep the executives getting their huge bonuses and keep the shareholders from losing their money as the taxpayers covered most of the losses.
- Born: August 15, 1953
- Nationality: American
- Profession: CEO Whole Foods Market
John Powell Mackey is an American businessman and writer. He is the CEO of Whole Foods Market, which he co-founded in 1980. Named Ernst & Young entrepreneur of the year in 2003, he is one of the most influential advocates in the movement for organic food.
