Posts Tagged ‘bonuses’

Why Are CEOs’ Pay So High?

Wednesday, April 30th, 2008

The mammoth pay and disastrous performance of Countrywide Financial’s Angelo Mozilo, Citigroup’s Chuck Prince, and Merrill Lynch’s Stan O’Neal should be enough to make the public furious. Each CEO departed with $100-million-plus compensation after misadventures with subprime mortgages.

Now add the economic slowdown to the mix; ordinary Americans are worried about making ends meet while failed pooh-bahs rake it in.

The problem is that corporate boards can always find a way to pay the boss whatever they like. Over the past 25 years CEO pay has risen regardless of the economic or political climate. It rises faster than corporate profits, economic growth, or average workforce compensation.

A recent study by the compensation consulting firm DolmatConnell & Partners found that CEO pay in the companies of the Dow Jones industrials increased at a blowout 15.1% annual rate over the past decade.

A more sensible alternative to the current compensation system would require CEOs to own a lot of company stock. If the stock is given to the boss, his salary and bonus should be docked to reflect its value.

As for bonuses, they should be based on improving a company’s cash earnings relative to its cost of capital, not to more easily manipulated measures like earnings per share. They should not be capped, but they should be banked - unavailable to the CEO for some period of years - to prevent short-term gaming.

If You Have Some Spare Cash

Monday, April 7th, 2008

If you have some spare cash, a trip to the casino can be an interesting activity. However, with technology advancements, more people are turning to online casinos which allow them to satisfy their gambling desires anytime they want.

No doubt, many online casinos are just a click away, but if you are a Mac user, the search is more frustrating, especially if you want a safe and reliable site. Mac Poker has some recommendations of poker sites just to cater to this market segment: the Mac users.

As an example of their listings, consider Pacific Poker which is a subsidiary of the largest online gambling networks (888.com). The interface runs on Java which saves you the trouble of downloading software to play the game. This makes Pacific Poker compatible with Mac, Linux, and Windows.

Another great advantage is the chances of nasty viruses or spywares sneaking into your computer along with the downloads are minimized. Pacific Poker can meet the needs of international clients: Italian, German, Swedish, Spanish and French. Find out more about the site through this review, from the layout to usability.

After glancing through the review, you will appreciate the usefulness of the Mac Poker site. There are many other insightful articles for newbies to learn about poker, besides finding out highly recommended poker sites, like FullTilt Poker, PokerStars.

You can find out the games played, poker software used, betting limits, deposit & withdrawal options and the direct link to these Mac Poker sites. Bonuses/code bonus for the poker sites are indicated and I think you should always aim to get them during your sign-up. Do not rush to place your own money, use the bonuses to get a feel of the casinos first.

With Mac Poker, finding the type of Mac online poker rooms that best suits you has never been easier. But remember, do not gamble more than you can afford to lose!!