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Former Heinz CEO Gets $110 Million As Firms Cuts 3,400 Jobs
Heinz was bought by Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathawy (and 3G Capital) in February 2013 for $28 billion. Since then the firm has cut 3,400 jobs and closed factories in an effort to boost profits as they pay current boss Bernardo Hees $9.2 million. However, as The BBC reports, the most stunning dichotomy in this tale is former Heinz CEO William Johnson's $110.5 million payday for the final eight months of 2013... Perhaps more worryingly, Buffett has proclaimed this a "model for future buys." When will the President replace Immelt with Buffett as his jobs advisors?
Former Heinz chief executive William Johnson received $110.5m (£66.1m) for the final eight months of 2013, the food firm disclosed in a filing to US regulators.
Current boss Bernardo Hees, who joined the firm in June, received $9.2m.
Mr Hees has cut more than 3,400 positions and closed factories in an effort to boost profits.
...
The firm, whose products include ketchup, baked beans, and a variety of frozen meals, reported a net loss of $71.7m from February to December 2013.
It announced the closure of three US plants in November and two European processing plants in February this year.
...
He also said the acquisition could serve as a model for future buys.
"With the Heinz purchase we created a partnership template that may be used by Berkshire in future acquisitions of size," he wrote.
Another template the average citizen should be worried about?
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$32,500 per job cut
Would've been enough to keep all those people employed for a year or so....
soylent red...
Another capitalist! Maybe Lenin had it right when he shot them all. Bitches.
Anyone here remember the once apotheosissied "Chainsaw" Al Dunlap?
All these cutters worship at his business model.
Cut it.....
The Vineyard has something here; Capitalism is dead - all hail the crony capitalist kleptoligarchy!
Toil is stupid, spuds.
representation is dead. warren buffet for treasury czar, get it over with already...
Capitalism requires freedom. We don't have Capitalism.. We have central planning, govt monopoly, massive regulation.
Those at the top of the tree still have pure capitalism: they can buy whatever they like - laws, votes, politicians, bail-outs ... they can even buy more money!
They were "Joblocked". Now they are free to ....to..um..blog....record techno...um..sleep late...sleep alot....
Anyway, Job Ready. Green Shoots. And, of course. ..FORWARD!
Fun-employment!
wait, did i get it right? they layed off 3400 people to cut the loss of $71,7 million which could have been avoided if the CEO wouldn't have been rewarded $110 million for boosting profits?
The new reality of American economics. The money is out there but being hogged by those at the top.
If the CEO got $71 million, what were OTHER top execs at Heinz paid?
I'll bet that EVERY ONE of those workers could have been kept on at Heiz (and they'd have been far more productive and valuable to the company) if the top executives were paid along the lines of their predecessors 40 years ago. Cut the obscene maximum pay ratios for execs and you'd have far less unemployment and a far more robust economy. Right now the remaining wealth in the US is concentrated in fewer and fewer hands - peopel who buy a very few obscenely expensive things - instead of being spread around. You can sell a lot more Fords than Bentleys (as Henry himself found out when he increased the pay of his assembly line workers).
I worked at corporate. they were a bunch of old boy buffoons. They shoved product into channels and stuffed like crazy to make a number, then they'd restructure once or twice a year w/ writedowns. Total mismanagement. i couldn't believe they'd even stay in business. I guess the power of a long time brand. They'd open up capital for a few hours on a first come first serve basis with no real regard to ROI calcs, then they'd willy nilly close it. There were a handful of execs all working together to fleece the company and shareholders with as much as they can.
Seriously, the C-suite CEO/presidents /CFO are a tight group working for themselves. It's about raking it in and hitting the country club perks. This is pretty much true for all public companies. It's nothing about building real long term strategic value. Shareholders are treated like voters. The executives have to kiss some butt once in awhile to keep shareholders happy, all the while the execs award each other more and more options diluting the shareholders out. Executive suites and board directors are all one homogenous group of corporate raiders.
They cut headcount willy nilly to "save money" until there is nobody left and the wheels fall off. No joke. I will never buy a Heinz product. Not only because of John ketchup Kerry but also because of the poor management.
Look at heinz aquisitions and divestitures, all losers.
Then what does idiot Buffett do? he hires a former burger king CEO at heinz, McDonalds then quits Heinz ketchup, worldwide. Heinz has a nearly $100million loss for the year. hahahaha I guess they can just cut another 3,500 jobs and call it good.
There were a handful of execs all working together to fleece the company and shareholders with as much as they can.
---------------------------------------------
Does that not say it all for the asset strippers? Why in the world did the average voter in the US not cotton to Mitt Romney?
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
GATA hand it to David Stockman for his essay on Mitt Romney. BTW, What is Mitt Romney's real name? Why do the presidential candidates run under an alias?
You got it.
And the MSM makes fun of Russian Oligarchs, who can't hold a candle to ours in the U.S.S.A.
CC22 re " ... he hires a former burger king CEO at heinz, McDonalds then quits Heinz ketchup, worldwide..." :
Thanks for that, I'd forgotten. I was about to ask why those 3400 jobs were no longer needed. I was suspecting that they'd just opened a Chinese / Mexican factory with 3400 new workers.
I guess if you don't need 3400 workers then you don't need 3400 workers. Something tells me they'll need even less workers next year. How many hours per week are the rest of them working? Obamacare's 30 hour per week cut-off not a problem with Heinz then?
If a CEO really can't figure out what to do with 3400 workers, is he really worth $110 million? Doesn't sound like he's expanding the company or anything. How many brain cells does it take?
they cut headcount willy nilly just to make a number tho. They did it all the time. Because they are too dumb to figure out how to sell product strategically. they do nothing but discount product to stuff distributor channels and bend over and lose money on it to make some quarterly sales number, then cut headcount to offset the loss. Almost all their acquistions were turned into losers. They've had to sell off all kinds of businesses to raise cash. The only thing keeping this mismanagement in play was the strong brand recognition and thats it. If this was some other less know brand this company would be bankrupt a long time ago. WR Johnson should be in politics and run for office, nothing but a schmoozer.
x
or declare no more intention to work to help maintain the official unemployment rate low.
Perhaps kerry or teresa could have a word with Buffett to save those 3400 sheeps.
This isn't the first time this "cost cutting" has taken place at Heinz. In 2006 it was led by "activist investor" (the media's deceptive term for corporate raider) Nelson Peltz.
"PHILADELPHIA - H.J. Heinz Co., under pressure by activist shareholders, said Thursday it plans to cut 2,700 jobs, close 15 factories, buy back $1 billion worth of shares over the next two years and boost its dividend by 16.7 percent."
"Thursday's announcement - outlining moves designed to cut costs by $355 million, slash spending on promotions for retailers by $145 million and increase this year's earnings per share by 10 percent - echoed components of a proposed growth strategy published last week by activist shareholders led by investor Nelson Peltz, who is trying to gain representation on the Heinz board."
http://amarillo.com/stories/2006/06/03/bus_4815888.shtml
Can you have a shadier start? Michael Milken and junk bonds......
" Since launching his empire in the 1980s with the help of Michael Milken's junk bonds, Peltz has suffered through censure by the London Stock Exchange and the collapse of a big British real estate company he ran in the early 1990s, and he's won the scorn of corporate watchdogs for his compensation."
http://money.cnn.com/2007/03/15/magazines/fortune/nelson_peltz.fortune/
2700 jobs + 15 factories + 3400 jobs + ?? factories = 6100 jobs + 15+?? factories.
Is there no-one to buy up those factories, design a new label and go into competition against Heinz? Or are you still better off starting from scratch? At the moment, I don't think finding an experienced workforce to man those factories would be a problem.
I wouldn't be surprised if this was coordinated by heinz mgt w/ peltz, so peltz would be paid to take the blame. "peltz made us do it."
Peltz is a billionaire who makes his money by forcing companies to "cut costs" driving stock prices up and then dumps them, leaving the business, employees and other stockerholders with a company that has been plundered and weakened all for his benefit.
Somebody's gotta pay for his lifestyle.
In addition to a 27-room main mansion, the property also features a lake, waterfall, indoor hockey rink with Zamboni machine, and a flock of albino peacocks that can occasionally be seen running around the manicured grounds. (It's not his only lavish mansion: In Palm Beach, his French Regency-style home covers 44,000 square feet.) Peltz leads a predictably lavish lifestyle. He keeps twomatching jets at a nearby airport, although he was forced to give up the helicopter that ferried him to the city a number of years ago, following a protracted legal battle with the town of Bedford.
http://gawker.com/505478/nelson-peltzs-house-of-horrors
Didn't Horse Face's wifey make enough money for him to retire? Or, get a real job? Uncle Warren thru that in the deal to bitch slap us!
Heinz CEO, I thought that was horseface's wife !
this inside trading and nepotisms informations are banned by the 1% in public. Spitzer only get to know it after the scandal.
Wifey didn't make the money. Married it and Heinz hubby died when helicopter crashed in mashion front lawn. She was a waitress.
Second 200 mil wife for Kerry. He used to sleep in his car.
So she slept for money and kerrt slept for her.
Re 32 grand per job cut:
Good point. If the employees just quit of their own accord, could they have gotten 32 grand each for displaying such insight?
What if all 3400 up and quit before they got the sack? Could they have front-run the $110M payout to ex-CEO?
# Dream dream dream, dre-e-e-e-eam ... #
.....Nice Golden Parachute
for 1, golden showers for the rest.
shit rain and an unique opportunity to volunteer for the army to fight for his/her country or rot at the street
typical
Bullish! Herd the sheeple.
Isn't this supposed to be a good thing? Cutting out overpaid labor and rewarding the producer of highly prized ketchup and related products for having the balls to pay himself a huge sum for the brilliant idea of reducing labor expenses? Oh, but there's the problem of who's going to buy it. Right. Doesn't matter to Bill Johnson, though, does it.
But they HELPED those people. They're now free to pursue more productive jobs in another field. Or go on the government dole, which is equally noble. $110MM isn't half as much as they should have paid him. It should have been a cool quarter billion and a hand-written thank-you note from every laid-off former employee.
in bearer bonds.
oh, I forgot. got rid of those things in the 80's too.
Somebody publish a list of the names & addresses of all the people that were just fucked. Then we'll get a group together to donate free firearms to them. And give them the addresses of the bankster-cocksuckers that just fucked them.
Should be a Hollywood ending.
buy them golfer tools and let them to Obama playground. 3400 golfers playing golf around Obama would let the man to feel some compassion to have a word with his campaigns top financial contributor. Yes He can.
What's happening to the empty factories? Couldn't 3400 people just break back in and fire up the machines again? Change the label, of course. It's been done before (sorry, I can't remember where - some doco I watched a few years ago - "Now I have a word for you: Expropriation". And yes, I realize that the words are easier than the deeds ).
Cutting out overpaid labor and rewarding the producer of highly prized ketchup and related products for having the balls to pay himself a huge sum for the brilliant idea
Yep, intellectual giants the lot of them. Thank the gawds for them job creators, who else could come up with such brilliance? I say 110m is too low in retrospect, the man worked blood sweat and tears for that payday!
Cutting out overpaid labor......
Funny how those doing the cutting are always so much MORE 'overpaid' than those whose jobs they are cutting.
Was at a wedding a dozen years back - the daughter of a CEO who'd just gotten a $26 million bonus (after cutting 5,000 jobs). The flowers alone must've run 6 figures and Daddy gave the bride and groom got an apartmernt on West End Ave in Manhattan for a wedding present. Funny thing - he had to take back those 5,000 workers a couple months later because they were falling so far behind in work.
Green Arrow to you Mr LTER.
Well, if they don't need 3400 people then I guess they simply don't need 3400 people. Still not sure the CEO is worth $110M though.
"We lost $71M."
"No worries. Sack 3400 workers and give me $110M for figuring out what to do. You guys will be making a profit again in 18 months time."
How many brain cells did that take?
Or has it got something to do with the way he explains it to the banksters?
Buffet said to Hees and Johnson "good things come to those who wait" and then he slowly began to squeeze the work force.
One positive development on the "1%"is that since everyone else is losing their jobs, pensions and benefits to them it really saves payroll disk space on their hard drives and "trees" for all those W-2s and paystubs they no longer need to print!
$110,000,000 = CEO paid $32,500 per employee cut
The winner of Mega Ball tonight will make him green with envy. HA HA
Robots will replace all factory employees who suvive this cut soon. If robots can flip hamburgers, they can handle mixing and cooking tomatoes and pouring paste in plastic bottles. With Google truck, packaging and distribution is piece of cake.
The robots have already replaced corporate governance so it's only logical they replace the worker as well
how is this even part of american corporate culture, what a fucking joke. is this how capitalism works in 'Murica?? How do y'all let this happen? Year after fucking year, is this the zombie apocolypse, just ALL zombies.
"Year after fucking year, is this the zombie apocolypse, just ALL zombies."
Point of order: the zombies ALWAYS win. Hence the term, 'Zombie Apocalypse'. The good news is, once you're a zombie, it doesn't hurt any more.
Further point of order: we do not "let" this happen. We cheer it on and support it fully.
How do you like us now?
drunk, stoned and about to be BBQ'd, all that's needed is the latex suit and rubber ball in mouth for a pic in facebook, it's complete....
Robots don't purchase and consume hamburgers and cola. When robots produce everything who has the earnings to consume the products ?
robots' owners will trade with each other
the rest of us will simply die off
Robots are good. We don't need jobs. We need production. I, for one, welcome the robots. But we may need to rethink how we handle this transition phase where some work still needs to be done by humans.
Let the shitmongering corporations die by a thousand cuts,
a hundred defections or a dozen revelations of moral decay as such just exposed.
They are incorporated to screw you up big time, corner markets and screw competitors.
Their profit is in shorting your paycheck.
Bust the trusts !
RTMFGA
Roll The Motherfucking Guillotines Already
Why pretend anymore?
RTMFGA: Na... I'll starve them to a slow death by not buying their corporate junk. Should take me about 10 million years to bankrupt the fuckers, depending on when the Free Shit Army wakes up during that time and comes on board.
I don't use any Heinz products because they are disgusting. It's a totally unrecognizable tomato.
Yeah, but in our illustrious schools it is actually a food group.
My roommate from military school (long time ago) has a family owned tomato products company. Their products are far better than the Heinz and others. For example their tomato juice is fresh squeezed and canned---NOT from Concentrate as are all the others. Their other products taste far better and are recognizably tomato. The tomato juice has texture if you can believe that after using crap like Campbells.
The company is RED GOLD out of rural Indiana. I recommend that you purchase their goods as they are superior and somewhat less expensive. (Not store brand crap by any means)
The guy gives a big damn for his employees too.
When I was a student in college I worked for FMC during the summer repairing the electronics on tomato harvesters. After harvest the tomatoes were sent to a processing plant in the Ca central valley where they were condensed down into a paste much thicker than tomato paste and then pumped into RR cars and shipped to.....Indiana where the various products were made from that reconstituted goo.
Good anecdote but the company that I mentioned is the only one that does have non-concentrate products.
http://www.redgold.com/red-gold-company/foodservice/products/product-dis...
Ingredients:
Tomato concentrate, high fructose corn syrup, vinegar, corn syrup, salt, Less Than 2% Of, onion powder, spice, natural flavors.
Here is the secret....People put ketchup on hotdogs because of the sweetness.
SUGAR = CRACK
Buffett just transferring out of COKE (sugar water) into KETCHUP (sugar sauce)
RED GOLD also added 600 Full Time employees in the past six years and has not gamed the employees with the goddamned goomint forced neccessity for playing with keeping them below benefit paying hours.
I do not know if the company has been pushed into the corner yet as have so many other companies that are forced to screw their employees because of goo rules.
I have real admiration for what the guy has done with the company in making it grow and bringing in farmers and employees to the table.
He was a fine person to know when we were teens in 1967. That was the funny thing about living in a military school enviornment. It really separated the pricks and suckups from the people that one would be proud to call friends. One of the most egregious suckups and backstabbing non-entities was a guy with the surname of Vlasic. Yeah, the pickle prick. He never did shit other than selling off the family business whereas the tomato guy built his up far larger than what he was "given" to work with.
Thank you for sharing Tapeworm ;). We need to hear more of the good stories.
actually their jelly for toast at the Diner is way better than the competition.
Just sayin'...
Anyone who is outraged by this story - are you buying Heinz products and supporting this behavior? Or will you put your money where your mouth is and purchase a different brand from this point on?
The expression "put your money where your mouth is" has never been more rightly applied.
Just gave them a link to this article and a piece of my mind.
http://www.heinz.com/our-company/investor-relations/request-information....
I switched years ago.
Can you imagine the outrage if this was oh, Koch brothers, or Romney's corporation or someone linked to Sarah Palin or the Bushes or Cheneys or Nixon or Reagan or...?
I would be less outraged because at least some of those you listed admit to their belief that CEOs should be rewarded for short-term profits by firing future buyers of their products.
The problem with your poorly constructed strawman is that this CEO did not produce profits. He produced a loss.
Both he and your strawman should be fired.
You're right. He was apparently rewarded for lower projected short-term losses for firing future buyers. Thanks for pointing out that reality is even more outrageous than my "strawman."
Humanity will be much better off when Buffett is finally six feet under ground. Let's all hope that day is coming soon.
These companies are in a hurry to make sure they have machines operational to do as much labor as possible so they can eliminate the employees before they wake up and do something. The good news is future corporate profits will have a small percentage donated to Our Lady Of The Worthless Miracle which will suppliment the FSA so these employees can enjoy a Natty light and a McRib and watch the ballgame.
For every 1 Ferrari or Bentley sold, 1000 Chevs or Hondas get channel stuffed.
1 man only has 1 ass to wipe, only eats and drinks one man's worth.
3400 men and women are out of jobs, becoming a burden on the system in one way or another so that the one guy can jet around, play around, have fun and never any worries about where the next meal is coming from.
It is time. It needs to be spelled out and put into no uncertain terms where this is headed.
If the shit is not hitting the fan, maybe the fan needs to be started manually.
So you're advocating chaos in the streets? Are you someone who uses truth to sell lies?
can't they at least make the friggin bagel locally?
I mean a bowl of soup...for six bucks? fer real?
If there was a God, Buffett would have been dead long ago.
Another fucking ice cream cone should do him in.
That isn't ice cream, it is some polymer engineered shit that has no remote connection to Ice Cream.
Lol - plastic food
3400 less people who can afford to buy Ketchup. Brilliant move.
I use Heinz products. But I don't BUY Heinz product, if you know what I mean !!! ( those new Heinz cups are so much better than the packets).
RIP A merica!
Buffet is nothing but a fucking leech
And yet one more criminal for the guillotine. It's just a shame we can't do Buffett this weekend.
What would really scare the hell out of this cartel would be for a mass of people to form a Mock Guilitine and wheel it down the streets of Washington DC, culminating at the front of the white house.
That's a genious idea!
.. Would you be called a terrorist after?
We're all branded as terrorists anyway. Who cares what other people think? If people want to think I'm a terrorist why should I worry about it?
Distgusting, that fucking piece of shit literally did nothing except go to meeting after meeting, while contributing nothing.
I can only hope to have such a jag-off type of job someday.
Hey Heinz, why do I have to slam the palm of my hand into your ketchup bottles?
A classic example of one of the core dialectics destroying America (and there are several).
By separating the economic elitists from the people and the dependence on productive work, the elitists are no longer interested in a balance that benefits everyone. They become ugly parasites.
The same can be said for government, the military, media and other institutions. When a true interdependence and empathy ceases to exist between elitists and the people, the resulting polarization inevitably leads to a critical conflict... regardless of their labels as mainstream, alternative, left or right.
... It seems pretty clear that conflict is the goal of those (he) who control and enforce the dialectic.
Well said, Thank you Notsobadwlad
Only a measly 110 mil? What a fucking piker. Anything less than a billion is small change when looting a public corporation - M. Eisner.
Lesson? Be in a position on either end of these deals, or quit your whining! So some CEO made a bunch of money, good for him. We can all bitch and moan about what we consider ridiculous... some baseball pitcher signed a contract for over $100m! Facebook just purchased an app for $19billion! Put yourselves on the receiving end of these deals or put yourself in a position to end them, but quit the bitchin' and hatein'
Up vote for quit the bitchin' and hatein'. Complaining is a waste of time. Be the change you want to see.
We the People create the world we live in with every choice we make.
That is 3400 people making about 35,000 a year Each. The guy just wiped out the livelihood of 3400 people. Which would have been better for the community to have that money?
BOYCOTT HEINZ
Maybe true - but you can't really tell from the way the story is written. Nothing was said about the breakdown of the $110M. How much was accumulated from how many years of profits? If it was all actually tied to only 8 months, then it is a sham. Anyone can say make the rats work harder.
The underlying problem is the flaw inherent in government monopoly fractional reserve debt based "money". Since we are trading multiples of future promises, instead of real time assets, we are using illusion as a substitute for reality. One-step linear logic doesn't work in feed-back loops.
Can the guy who got the $100 million pay off make up for all the lost sales from the unemployed personnel Heinz staff who will now have to buy the cheaper brands of the same type product ?
I once thought that Buffet was someone to be admired but now I see him as an idiot.
The possibility that Berkshire Hathaway could be placed on a Systemic Risk List is proof that Berkshire Hathaway is operating on debt and has loans outstanding to companies and banks making it vulnerable in case it cannot repay these loans: hence, the concern about bankruptcy and its effect on large industries where it is dominant.
What’s wrong here is that Buffett is an insider, which means he can talk to the closest connections of the Federal Reserve, such as Lloyd Blankfein. And when he wants to make a deal there is probably large chunks of public-backed money coming from the Fed via the banks that are helping Buffett with his deals.
The current monetary system operates for the benefit of the banks and the large corporations who have written the rules for the system. Not only have they have created and changed the regulations on mergers and acquisitions through the years but they have purchased the courts that allow the approval of these monopolies (a judge is purchased when a bought politician appoints him).
As these monopolies spread, they eventually suppress basic freedoms.
Monopoly on advertising, for example, by international advertising agencies allows firms such as international giant Saatchi & Saatchi to control political comment worldwide. With its power to place advertising or to refuse advertising, it can reward favored political news outlets and destroy others on a global scale, coordinating its network of 6,500 staff members in 140 offices in 76 countries.
Quoting from the article Will Berkshire Hathaway Join GE and AIG on Systemic Risk List? written January 23, 2014, by Paul Ausick: “The U.S. Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC) has begun looking at Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRK-B) to determine whether the financial powerhouse is important enough to the global financial system to require supervision from the Federal Reserve. Berkshire Hathaway is the world’s fourth largest reinsurance operator…
"Big banks like J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) that have already been determined to be threats to the financial system should they fail are required to hold larger reserves, submit to regular stress tests and adhere to stricter leverage and capital requirements…
"The finance arm of General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE), American International Group Inc. (NYSE: AIG) and Prudential Financial Inc. (NYSE: PRU) have already been determined to be systemically important non-bank financial firms and are subject to the stricter Fed guidelines. MetLife Inc. (NYSE: MET) is said to be in the final review stages at the FSOC.
"Berkshire Hathaway may also be designated a systemically important reinsurer by the Basel-based Financial Stability Board in a ruling that is due in July.
"As of last September, Berkshire Hathaway held $40 billion in cash on assets of nearly $460 billion. The company also held $31.4 billion in credit default swaps as of January 17, according to Bloomberg, and $5.8 billion in derivative liabilities. All these totals exceed the levels at which the FSOC can evaluate a non-bank for its systemic importance to the financial system."
http://247wallst.com/banking-finance/2014/01/23/will-berkshire-hathaway-join-ge-and-aig-on-systemic-risk-list/
Thank you JR
Thank you JR
Thank you JR
old grandpa buffett should be up for an oscar for his acting ability. you KNOW he does his public PR schtick on purpose.
He tells us he only invests in basics in stuff he understands. never tells you about derivative investments. He lies to the public about the "tax inequality" of his secretary vs him but he continues to take maximum tax deductions including shielding nearly his ENTIRE fortune from govt taxation. hahahaha.
If you were an employee of Buffett and didn't do everything you could to minimize your tax liability he would fire you quickly.
His PR schtick is in case SHTF he won't be sought out with pitchforks. He'll be ol grandpa buffett in "owe-me-ha ha"!!!
Warren B: meet the crony capitalist..... at least he is nothing like Jon Corzine
Forbes magazine has promoted the cult of the C-level executive, these Galt-like titans of industry, for at least the past 20 years.
No amount of compensation is excessive for our heroes. They are worth every penny.
Forbes magazine needs to die.
It's a mistake to paint everyone with the same brush. Everyone has different abilities and uses their abilities in different ways.
Don't lump the good guys in with the crooks and thugs.
yep, the "successful" ceos became masters of accounting tricks, or rather recruited a fall guy CFO to do their dirty work. Manipulate quarterly numbers, play games w/ balance sheets to just hit the number. Make stupid short term moves to make wall street numbers, many moves that are actually detrimental to the long term viability of the business.
The short term pressure of hitting quarterlies is a dangerous game for big businesses. that is why you see boom and bust (restructuring after restructuring) cycles. They are incentivised to do it.
Puta Kerry.
Loopholes aside: $110M awarded to a single person in a single calander year might possibly be taxed at some rate well over 50% Federal, State, and local -all in.
3,400 people making $32,500. per year are not likely being taxed at the same rate. Nearly a third of the sum is exempted Federally just from personal exemptions and individual deductions.
Consider that the Federal government ( State, local as well ) may be taking more money in from Individuals making high sums by taxing them at higher rates than it would if the sums were distributed amongst thousands taxed at lower rates; resulting in a higher per capita tax basis from the same basis...
Politicians gain perrogatives under economic regimes engendering progressive wealth aggregation. The attendant bureaucracy aggregates greater power and profit to itself in an environment of excessive and growing wealth disparity in some ratio to the general trend in disparity...
The primary role of the political and bureaucratic classes are to continue to manage the attendant problems associated with sidparity without achieving a solution to disparity.
The problem is loopholes will not be aside, but front and center.
Even so Throxxofvon's observation is correct. The top is paid to control the bottom. One reason top tier pay increased so much was 90% tax rates. That was the wedge that opened all kinds of doors. It was a means of separating management from employees.
Loopholes are just another way to constantly keep you distracted - divide and conquer.
His pay isn't ordinary income. It's long term gains on stock options he awarded himself. Plus probably some tax efficient deferred income.
they play all kinds of games w/ insurance policies and whatnot to minimize taxes.
Buffett is the ultimate sewage that has destroyed the American dream and this sort of filth is what is funding American politicans. Disgusting!