Back in about 1948, Bob Feller, the fireballing Cleveland Indians pitcher, signed a contract for $75,000 a year—an astounding sum for those days. This sparked a heated debate among the lads I ran with. There must have been a touch of egalitarianism in the air in those post-war years.
“Nobody is worth that much money just to throw a baseball, “ some said.
I argued that if the owners thought Feller could sell that many more tickets when he pitched, then he was worth every penny.
I would not make that argument today.
Are today’s CEO’s so talented they earn their enormous salaries? Some might argue that they deserve every penny. Look what they did for their stocks, they point out.
What are we talking about here? In 1980 CEO’s in large companies were paid some 45 times as much as ordinary workers. By 1995 the ratio had risen to 160. By 1997, it had reached 305. The CEO’s wanted to keep the good times rolling, and they did. By 2000, as we know now with cooked book profits, they were paid the obscene ratio of 458 times the salary of ordinary workers. We’re talking millions and sometimes hundreds of millions of dollars. Bob Feller was a piker compared to these guys.
These are not like the businessmen we admired and respected years ago. These men sponsored Little League teams, bought band uniforms, and were always a soft touch for local charities. Today’s CEO’s are driven way beyond respect and admiration. Obscene wealth attracts them like a magnet. And this drive may be the death knell for capitalism as we know it.
Many say there are just a few bad apples in the barrel. Get rid of them and we can appreciate the fruit that is left. But we have a capitalistic system where the gulf between rich and poor grows wider and wider. The chasm between winners and losers is huge. The whole point of the system is that it works against equality, against cooperation. It insults and criminalizes the poor, while it glorifies and pardons the rich. All life is corrupted in the process.
We could lock up all the liars, cheaters, perjurers, and those who loot their companies and stuff their pockets with ill-gotten gains from pension funds. We could get all the rotten apples out but that won’t do it. Politicians who call for new rules and regulations to prevent financial scandals in the future are like generals fighting the last war. By the time they demand change, it is already too late.
The whole barrel is rotten and has to be replaced. We need an economic system that generates trust, respects both the rich and the poor, and honors the old Puritan principle that if you work hard you will be rewarded.
Was Bob Feller worth $75,000?…maybe. Are the CEOs worth their millions?…definitely not.
