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This is a losing battle. No politician will ever win on this platform. It is a hot button issue and Long Islanders would vote against it in droves everytime.
Our focus should be on:
1. Consolidation of sewer, water, garbage, and other town services that people don't feel need to be "local" in nature.
2. Cuts in teacher compensation and administrator positions at the local school board level
3. Cuts in police and fire compensation in both Nassau and Suffolk
And that's just for starters..
I moved to Long Island from Florida because I wanted better schools, not less expensive schools. I want someone to show me that cutting teacher compensation will maintain or improve my schools.
All this talk about needing to be competitive...again, the CEO of Honda made 900K last year, the CEO of GM made 28 Million. Now..where do companies need to "cut the fat" to stay competitive? That's just ONE executive at failing government bailed out GM..what do you think the total compensation pool for the top, say, 20 execs at GM is? Is say, 500 Million dollars a completely immaterial number that should be ignored, where as pension liability has to be lowered through bankruptcy?
It's amazing how many middle and working class people (see the military guy in this thread) have bought the Rush Limbaugh talking points lock, stock and barrel. Corporate CEO's are WORTH 28 million..no one should question their salaries when a company fails...but the unions..they are responsible for the collapse of American manufacturing, single handedly. It has nothing to do with short sighted, dare I say, unpatriotic management philosophy that puts short term gain over long term health, and dare I say..your own country.
I've seen it first hand, the mentality of people who go to top 5 business schools..they are ENTITLED to what they make, even when their company fails..hey, I went to The Stern School or Harvard and got my MBA..I am now guaranteed to make 10 Million working for GM..regardless of how the company tanks when I'm there. How else am I supposed to keep my BMW M5 and Peter Lugar account paid up? I EARNED this lifestyle!!
All this talk about needing to be competitive...again, the CEO of Honda made 900K last year, the CEO of GM made 28 Million. Now..where do companies need to "cut the fat" to stay competitive? That's just ONE executive at failing government bailed out GM..what do you think the total compensation pool for the top, say, 20 execs at GM is? Is say, 500 Million dollars a completely immaterial number that should be ignored, where as pension liability has to be lowered through bankruptcy?
It's amazing how many middle and working class people (see the military guy in this thread) have bought the Rush Limbaugh talking points lock, stock and barrel. Corporate CEO's are WORTH 28 million..no one should question their salaries when a company fails...but the unions..they are responsible for the collapse of American manufacturing, single handedly. It has nothing to do with short sighted, dare I say, unpatriotic management philosophy that puts short term gain over long term health, and dare I say..your own country.
I've seen it first hand, the mentality of people who go to top 5 business schools..they are ENTITLED to what they make, even when their company fails..hey, I went to The Stern School or Harvard and got my MBA..I am now guaranteed to make 10 Million working for GM..regardless of how the company tanks when I'm there. How else am I supposed to keep my BMW M5 and Peter Lugar account paid up? I EARNED this lifestyle!!
You make a good point about executive compensation, but miss the boat on the union's pension and healthcare benfits. The exectuive compensation can (and does) change quickly when necessary. Take a guess as to what the executives at GM are getting paid now? But the pension and healthcare liability for tens of thousands of current and former employees does not go away, but gets bigger.
Don't get me wrong, the executive compensation needs to be looked at. However it truly is the pensions and the healthcare liability that is sinking the car companies and many other American stalwarts.
You make a good point about executive compensation, but miss the boat on the union's pension and healthcare benfits. The exectuive compensation can (and does) change quickly when necessary. Take a guess as to what the executives at GM are getting paid now? But the pension and healthcare liability for tens of thousands of current and former employees does not go away, but gets bigger.
Don't get me wrong, the executive compensation needs to be looked at. However it truly is the pensions and the healthcare liability that is sinking the car companies and many other American stalwarts.
What other American Stalwarts? There aren't any left. Walmart doesn't pay pensions.
Newsflash: If I made 28 million dollars last year, I really couldn't care less if I don't have a job this year. Executive compensation is decided in board rooms by other people who are themselves executives, who travel in the same circles. It's a ponzi scheme in itself.
I moved to Long Island from Florida because I wanted better schools, not less expensive schools. I want someone to show me that cutting teacher compensation will maintain or improve my schools.
Will you do that?
Do you think there would be a mass exodus of teachers if they didn't get raises for say, 7 years? Salaries are kept the same with no increases...
I don't think so. I think teaching jobs on LI are primo because of the parents and the kids and the pay. To me, this is something that's worth the risk because taxes are simpley out of control. And if teachers start leaving, you can give them COLA increases to stop the bleeding. But why not at least TRY to control these costs??
Newsflash: If I made 28 million dollars last year, I really couldn't care less if I don't have a job this year.
You wouldn't care, but many of them do. Do you think Wagoner (I think that's how his named is spelled) is happy Obama canned him? And now that he's gone, the board can put someone else in place who is cheaper and make them earn their comp.
It's not a big conspiracy or ponzi scheme... many of these board members are also major shareholders and do not want the company to sink. They aren't interested in milking the company and losing on their return. In general the system, which has flaws, does work pretty well. Also, keep in mind $28 million is nothing compared to the pension liability for 10's of thousands of workers and the healthcare liability. GM has something like $1500 in cost extra on every car purely for legacy healthcare costs. They cannot compete with Honda or anyone with that kind of anchor holding them back.
You wouldn't care, but many of them do. Do you think Wagoner (I think that's how his named is spelled) is happy Obama canned him? And now that he's gone, the board can put someone else in place who is cheaper and make them earn their comp.
It's not a big conspiracy or ponzi scheme... many of these board members are also major shareholders and do not want the company to sink. They aren't interested in milking the company and losing on their return. In general the system, which has flaws, does work pretty well. Also, keep in mind $28 million is nothing compared to the pension liability for 10's of thousands of workers and the healthcare liability. GM has something like $1500 in cost extra on every car purely for legacy healthcare costs. They cannot compete with Honda or anyone with that kind of anchor holding them back.
I think the guy who made 28 Million will get by.
I'm not saying that a GM pension isn't over the top, but total executive compensation in GM over the last 10 years..I guarantee you it is a real number that had real consequences for the company, especially considering that the strategy they took was a complete abysmal FAILURE..ie: sell SUV's because they are big ticket, neglect small and midsize cars and basically hand that market over to the Japanese. What fueled this mentality? Greed..short term profit. That's the American mindset.
I moved to Long Island from Florida because I wanted better schools, not less expensive schools. I want someone to show me that cutting teacher compensation will maintain or improve my schools.
Will you do that?
Florida and LI are not the only two places on earth. There are GREAT schools elsewhere in the country at a fraction of the cost it takes to run them on Long Island..
Higher teacher compensation and overpaid Supers and board members does not equal a better education for your child
I agree that certain executive compensation is way to high. However, there are a ton of executives that make more "normal" compensation and run their companie well. Anecdotal stories of crazy compensation don't really get us anywhere. Nonetheless, the answer for the abusers is not Soviet style capping of wages on the private sector. What should be done is give shareholders more power to remove Board Directors that rubber stamp fat packages.
One suggestion which I like is to have shareholder proxy votes be anonymous. I think you'd see a lot more accountability on Boards. Another answer is to force Directors and upper management to have more of a stake in the Corporation. Again, this can be done through corporate and shareholder governance rather than government intervention.
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