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GM CEO secures fat pension
So, let me get this straight - one of the major problems with the Big 3 is excessive worker benefits, right? So, if that's the case, then one would expect executives to practice what they preach. And at about this time, you're wondering if I'm really from this planet, and for good reason. GM CEO Rick Wagoner will be receiving a $4.6M retirement package, courtesy of a Supplemental Executive Retirement Plan that has been set up for him. This plan comes from funding that is separate from GM's vastly underfunded pension plan, and is said to be payable even if GM files for bankruptcy. Is it just not possible to properly fund one's own retirement on $4.8 million a year? Or is the goal to just eliminate whatever sympathy that the public might still have for GM's management? Wow. [Hat Tip: Cheers & Gears]
Reader Comments (Page 2 of 4)
Geotpf 10:26PM (12/18/2005)
Reportedly, the head of Toyota makes less than $1 million US a year. Chew on THAT for a second.
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importlover 10:26PM (12/18/2005)
You wont see Takeo Fukui doing something like this idiot. I can never see the time when the Japanesse would ever do anything this arrogant.
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Joseph Willemssen 10:26PM (12/18/2005)
"On the flip side, didn't Bill Ford refuse a salary?"
Why does this myth/semantic trick persist?
Ford made around $12-15 million last year, depending on how you want to count it. But, no, he didn't get a "salary".
http://www.ford.com/en/company/investorInformation/companyReports/proxyStatements/default.htm
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importlover 10:26PM (12/18/2005)
Take my bait! PLEEEEEEEEASE! Someone PAY ATTENTION TO ME!! I'm going INSANE!!! Help!!! Throw me a bone!
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BF 10:26PM (12/18/2005)
Pipe it, importlover! Now get in the back of my Aztek and shut your pie hole.
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number six 10:26PM (12/18/2005)
feloneous monk? You misunderstood my meaning. I meant to say (sorry I wasn't clear enough) that when capitalism works well, it works in the manner as I'd described (i.e. the Japanese). Not in the manner of GM (and Mr. Wagoner's nice fat retirement bonus as he is laying off 30,000 individuals). That's "not working well", not even for Wagoner, because one day, he'll face his maker and have some 'splainin' to do. See?
I too have felt the sting of going to work for just another work day and suddenly, having no work, no medical coverage for my family, no prospects for a retirement plan and once, due to an hospital / employer who let me go (NO reasons given - I had not done anything wrong, there were no warnings in my employement record - they simply told the employement commission I was let go/fired) one day short of a year, the unemployment offer from the state of Colorado was something like 20 cents per month for a family of 3 to live off. At which point I sold everything we had, left the country, moved to the UK, and didn't return home for 7 years - I was so disgusted.
Highly ironic that despite a college degree, I did "better" as an "outsider" in the UK (and without the "proper" accent in my voice, as well, which carries one far there) in many ways, that I have in my own country. (My wife was British at the time, so we were able to legally move to the UK). It's just that the UK had so little to offer the future for my kids (housing costs had skyrocketed/only variable mortgages are available and interest rates had gone up like 8 percent in 2 years, unemployment had skyrocketed, taxes had skyrocketed, the socialized medical program totally sucked), we came home to the USA - but not to Colorado.
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Optimus Prime 10:26PM (12/18/2005)
Doesnt Toyota's ceo make like 1 million a year?
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importlover 10:26PM (12/18/2005)
Gosh we have some mean people here today. I was just pointing out that Takeo Fukui would not do this to Honda. And all of a sudden two people who are not me post. Why are you doing this?
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BF 10:26PM (12/18/2005)
Posted Nov 29, 2005, 3:54 PM ET by BF
Pipe it, importlover! Now get in the back of my Aztek and shut your pie hole.
I love it...some moron has decided to use my screen name and take the cover of the Aztek...I knew I was making friends here in AutoBlog Land.
Anyway my comment for this story is this.
Another great PR move from GM management....perhaps Wagoner should get an allotment of Red Tags to go with his $4.6 million a year....perhaps they could make Wagoner wear the dumb ass Red Tag suitr in TV ads to help cover his $4.6 million.
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BF 10:26PM (12/18/2005)
I don't troll. I never use another name. It's just a coincidence that I popped into this thread on a moment's notice.
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Koba 10:26PM (12/18/2005)
LMAO, I'm all tired of this creep, what more can be said. BTW, Bill Ford is a carbon-fuck-copy of this Rick dousche bag(sp?). Mr. "i gave up a salary" still owns hundreds of thousands of shares in Ford stock (if not more). Can we say DIVIDENDS!!!!!!!! Both are lying assholes who betrayed the american worker. Ohhh, gotta calm down.....
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KT 10:26PM (12/18/2005)
"Ford made around $12-15 million last year, depending on how you want to count it. But, no, he didn't get a "salary"."
JW...you failed to read the foot notes on the Compensation page. He (Bill Ford)donated (or is donating) all of his 2004 Restricted Stock when the restrictions lapse. That's half to his scholarship fund and the other half to local charities.
Hate those footnotes huh?
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Steve W 10:26PM (12/18/2005)
It's instructive to recall what happened to Don Carty (former Chairman and CEO of American Airlines) when he tried something like this. The unions AND middle management revolted, the board fired him, and he got NO severance package.
Never really took Mr. Wagoner to be a clueless moron. Until now.
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Joseph Willemssen 10:26PM (12/18/2005)
"JW...you failed to read the foot notes on the Compensation page. He (Bill Ford)donated (or is donating) all of his 2004 Restricted Stock when the restrictions lapse. That's half to his scholarship fund and the other half to local charities.
Hate those footnotes huh?"
Oh, I love them. Do you just stop reading them and not get the full story?
"Mr. Ford also received 103,882 shares of restricted common stock for his service as CEO during 2004 in lieu of a cash salary and an award of 600,720 shares of restricted common stock for
his performance during 2004"
That's worth about $6 million dollars.
And I'd also like to get your logic straight. If I make money and donate it (and get a fat tax deuction for it, of course), then in your eyes I didn't actually make the money?
You guys are hilarious in the way you buy this little bit of "accounting magic" (as my old prof used to call it) by Bill Ford.
If he really was being self-sacrificing, he wouldn't play these little complicated compensation games and simply take no salary and have Ford Motor put whatever amount to charity directly.
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Ted 10:26PM (12/18/2005)
"see. My company isn't profitable, I'm eliminating jobs, closing factories, and underfunding the pension plan. How can I avoid any adverse impacts to my personal bottom line? I'll make sure my pension (which is huge!) is funded from a separate account that won't be affected by any kind of bankruptcy. That should work."
This act is so brazenly hypocritical that it's left me speechless.
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laserwizard 10:26PM (12/18/2005)
Typical GM attitude - reward incompetence! No wonder this company is sinking faster than the Titanic!
I expect Bobbie Putz to be equally compensated. Seeing as he is hitless as a product guru, he should receive an incredible package!
GM - The Marque of Incompetence.
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laserwizard 10:26PM (12/18/2005)
Hey, GM Board of Directors:
I'll sit and do nothing while the company sinks into serious dog doo for $500K. I'll smile. I'll look like I'm doing something. I'll do whatever you want me to do. I'll layoff thousands of workers. I'll invent new schemes to move worthless vehicles at a loss. Save your $4 million - consider it a rebate!
Hire me!
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Scott 10:26PM (12/18/2005)
#5 and #11 got it right. This has nothing to with GM (although it's an excellent example) and everything to do with corporate executives in America versus more "sane" countries like Japan. That 500:1 ratio of executive salary to the average worker is about right. In Japan I believe it is less than 50:1, although I don't know the actual average for the country.
The corporations run this country and I sure hope the eventual revolution comes during my lifetime, because if it doesn't, well then America's golden age is over. We'll all be looking up to Japan and (at their current rate of economic expansion) China.
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Scott 10:26PM (12/18/2005)
laserwizard, if you don't think the Solstice is a hit, then you don't know what a hit is. As least give Lutz credit for that.
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Joseph Willemssen 10:26PM (12/18/2005)
"laserwizard, if you don't think the Solstice is a hit, then you don't know what a hit is."
Yeah, quite a "hit". Haven't seen a single one on the road yet.
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