...CEOs in any year between 1993 and 2012, 22 percent worked for financial firms that took federal bailout money…” (Mullaney) Executive compensation is not heavily regulated and there is even a tax code that limits a company’s ability to deduct pay of top executives above $1 million a year (Mullaney). But wouldn’t they be the first candidates to deduct pay from since they are the ones who are supposed to “run the show”? Unfortunately, no. Reforms are necessary because excessive CEO pay take money out of shareholders and retirement savings of working families (“AFL-CIO Calls out Firms for CEO Greed”). But since there are no reforms in the near future, everyday people are struggling to make ends meet and even have to work two jobs, due to the low...
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...Realism and Naturalism Old Grannis and Miss Baker - Necessary or Needless? June 17, 2013 In "Frank Norris' "Drama of a Broken Teacup": The Old Grannis - Miss Baker Plot in McTeague", Donna M. Campbell disagrees with the critics that have argued that the Old Grannis - Miss Baker storyline in McTeague, is out of place and unnecessary. Rather, Campbell claims that the storyline is not deserving of the abuse heaped on it, and argues the alternate, that it is essential to the plot of McTeague, helping us both with the storytelling itself, and also with advancing the naturalistic nature and style of the stories of the other two couples in McTeague, Trina and McTeague as well as Zerkow and Maria Macapa. Campbell's main argument is that based on the two types of stories in the text, naturalistic stories as well as commonplace, "local color fiction", embodied in the actions of all three couples in McTeague, Norris is able to fully examine and explore what naturalistic writing is meant to entail. Using Norris' own words in his letter to Isaac Marcosson, Norris claims that he is writing a novel of "straight naturalism with all the guts I can get into it" (P. 48). According to Campbell, "Thus each pair of lovers functions on several levels: as representatives of varying social levels and codes of manners; as unwitting victims of the world of forces; as "owners" in several senses - of money, of passions, of restraint; and finally as characters in plots suitable to the differing...
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...The standards of success and prosperity for the protagonists of Death of a Salesman and Wall Street are inflated by the media, celebrities, and their family lives. In the face of his brother’s triumph in Alaska, Willy struggles to achieve the same level of unrealistic, exaggerated success as a mere salesman in Death of a Salesman. Similarly, by working under the exaggeratedly cutthroat Gordon Gekko, Bud Fox seeks a hollow life of luxury, stolen through cheating. Both Willy and Bud try to succeed with exaggerated and unrealistic goals due to the pressure presented to them through external forces such as their mentors, society, their families, and the workplace. The pressure that Bud and Willy’s mentors place on them causes them to exaggerate their goals to unrealistic levels. As a result, Willy’s lucidity spirals into a deep depression that leaves him in a delusional mentality that refuses to let him face the reality of his present situation while Bud’s sanity becomes overcome by his hunger for power that is fed by his ego and arrogance. Ben Loman is the foil to Willy Loman’s character. He is wealthy, bold, and a ruthless business man. He is the epitome of a success story and living the American Dream. Ben is one of the fortunate few who found incredible success without much work, something which Willy recognizes and wants. Willy Loman believes that like his brother, he too can rise from humble beginnings to importance. His specific angle on this outlook is that a man succeeds...
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...Evaluating the role of ethnic identity in explaining the occurrence of contemporary civil conflicts in sub-Saharan Africa. High hopes for many newly independent states of Africa became diminished as the 1990s saw over a quarter of the continent's states facing armed insurgencies within their borders (Young, 2002: 534). Commentators often point to pathological, deep-seated hatreds in an African tribal mosaic as the bases of such conflict. The fact is, however, that the continent is awash with political grudges, ethnically-framed and otherwise, but civil wars rarely break out. Thus this essay seeks to take a more nuanced approach to understand the analytical challenge posed by such disorder. Starting out by countering the centrality of ethnic identity, it firstly seeks to demonstrate that ethnic identities do not exist primordially, but that they are constructed on weak foundations. Secondly it endeavours to show that where cleavages do exist along lines of cultural difference, simple heterogeneity is insufficient to account for the outbreak of conflict. Next, it moves to underline the fact that more important in explaining civil conflict is whether such conflict is feasible. This is understood both in terms of the perceived capacity of the state and in terms of the viability of insurgency for would-be rebels. A final conclusion will then be expounded that ethnicity is not a central factor, but that it is simply one of a number of strategies under which conflict may be framed...
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...The article “The Greed Cycle” is an in depth look of the advancements in the ways business compensates its heads of industry. The article links the trend of corruption among executives when there was lax regulation, and methods of fixing numbers. The question that is purposed by the article is if greed comes naturally; or if it is an evolution that corporate America creates. It is true that the creation of Sarbanes-Oxley has significantly prevented the events that occurred regarding CEOs and the stock option crisis. There have been numerous recent events, however, that have occurred with CEOs and others alike make me believe John Cassidy’s theory that there is validity to his theory of a greed cycle. The problem was regulation; there were none. Stock options were engaging executives in achieving the goals of the company, while also allowing the company to not count their stock options as a corporate expense. It was a win- win situation for both executive and company. Because of this the stock option plans for executives were an emerging trend for most well known companies. How government officials purposely denied the idea from the Financial Accounting Standards Board (F.A.S.B.) to count stock options as an expense is hard to fathom. When has there ever been a time the government not wanted to receive their share of someone’s fortune? The greed of senators receiving money from lobbyist helped the system stay intact in 1994: after they threatened to shut down the F.A...
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...Corporate crime is carried out all over the globe and there are many aspects to the crime. This paper only focused on three reasons why an offender might commit a white collar crime. CEO is the person with power and if he appoints this executive team, hence his team will feel obligated to be loyal to him. The loyalty created strong connectedness between the CEO and the executives, as this bond can be misused by the CEO. David and his manager were able to perform a corporate crime with the help of their team. An offender rationalizes its choice to commit a crime and that rational decisions can be affected by self interest. The paper explained self interest comes from materialistic needs of a person. When individuals need to fulfill their materialistic...
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...article on Kozlowski uses the term “rogue” to describe the CEO and in this context it is a term to describe his mentality and behavior that was out of the ordinary. Kozlowski acted differently than the average employee and felt like he was the most powerful man in the world. This attitude created a “rogue” CEO and the article describes a man who lacked integrity and had a strong desire to live an extravagant life. He deserves this description because of his behavior that involved spending large sums on money acquiring other companies and also spending excess money on personal luxuries such as a $6,000 shower curtain. 2. I believe the first explanation for Kozlowski’s behavior stems from his own desire to be remembered as the world’s greatest business executive. In 2001 he proclaimed this desire and he expressed aspirations to be like GM executive Jack Welch and the investor Warren Buffet, while being able to create a return for shareholders. Another reason for the CEO’s behavior is because of the need to constantly increase earnings and to increase the value of company shares. Kozlowski faced a demanding group of shareholders and demanding investors. His compensation is all tied to the stock price, so as that price increases so does his compensation. This man became consumed with the financial numbers and doing as much as possible to keep the stock price soaring. A final explanation for this behavior is his own personal greed. Kozlowski is described as a lonely man who went through...
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...With more than $600 million stolen from Tyco International, Dennis Kazlowski, former CEO of Tyco, and Mark Swartz, former CFO, have gotten off easy by being released on parole after only eight short years in prison. Throughout the management ranks of Tyco in the late 1990s and early 2000s, corporate greed and excess was rampant until being brought to the attention of the SEC. Dennis Kazlowski created a culture of free spending and excessive greed within the executive ranks of Tyco International. He secretly authorized the forgiveness of tens of millions of dollars of loans to dozens of executives. Without board approval 51 employees received $56 million in bonuses and $31 million more to pay the taxes on those bonuses. He used tens of millions of company money for personal spending, several items he purchased were a $17,000 travelling toilet box, a $15,000 dog umbrella stand, a $6,000 shower curtain, a $2,900 set of coat hangers, a $2,200 wastebasket, and a $1,650 notebook. Along with Kazlowski, Mark Swartz, CFO, and Mark Belnick, General Council, were found to have stolen $600 million through unapproved bonuses, loans and extravagant “company” spending, as well as selling their stock in Tyco without giving the investors of the company notice. These transactions were usually kept off the accounting books, away from the eyes of the shareholders and board members. However in June of 2002, Kozlowski was investigated for tax evasion on $13 million worth of art that was paid...
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...company in the US history with its CEO of 17 years Bernard Ebbers was busted for fraudulent financial activities (American Greed, 2008). The history of the company dates back to 1983 when Long Distance Discount Services (LDDS) was founded. The company was providing long distance calling for cheap by doing acquisitions and buying smaller phone companies (American Greed, 2008). Bernard Ebbers was company’s CEO and within 10 years he was able to make LDDS into the largest telecom company with a revenue of US 6 billion (American Greed, 2008). In 1998, Ebbers performed the biggest merger by buying out MCI. Company’s name was changed to WorldCom to reflect its size and capacity. In 1999 WorldCom’s performance was at its highest peak, with its stock at US 68 per share (American Greed, 2008). Ebber’s main strategies as CEO of WorldCom were: aggressive acquisitions; and cost control by “hammering off pennies” (American Greed, 2008). Even though Ebbers was cutting costs at WorlCom by refusing to provide free coffee to his employees, he was splurging extensively. In the late 90’s, Ebbers bought a percent of hockey team, not only he owned several yachts but he also bought yachts building company, he purchased a biggest ranch in the US, timberland, crawfish company, golf course, etc. Money for these purchases came from Ebbers’ personal loans from JPMorgan and Citi bank and totaled US 408 million. Ebbers secured the loans with WorldCom stock (American Greed, 2008). In the early 2000, long...
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...Tyco International – Epic Failure Dionne Flinn March 25, 2013 LDR/531 Thea Miller Tyco International – Epic Failure A business is successful not only if it has the right “product” that consumers want, but also if it is managed and lead by strong, ethical and invested leaders. In the past two decades unethical, corrupt, greedy and incompetent CEO’s have brought down multi-million corporations and cost thousands of American workers their jobs. One such CEO, Dennis Kozlowski of Tyco International, destroyed his company through his arrogance, greed, lack of ethics, and overall disdain for his company. An effective leader puts his own personal interests aside and works for the greater success of his company for their employees and shareholders. Tyco International experienced a boom in profits in the 1990’s through continuous acquisitions of smaller companies and financial manipulation of accounting records. This resulted in rampant greed and corruption, with managers who shared the same values as Dennis Kozlowski advancing into upper management ranks. The main charges against Kozlowski involve “using company funds to purchase millions of dollars worth of artwork as well as an $18 million apartment in Manhattan. Kozlowski used company “loans” for the purchases, allowing him to avoid paying income tax on the money used” (Kay, 2002). Kozlowski allegedly transported crates of artwork to Tyco’s operating headquarters in New Hampshire to avoid paying sales tax. Instead, the...
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...The author’s viewpoint in the Tyco case is that companies can be ruined due to the unethical actions of their leaders. In this case, the CEO Dennis Kozlowski and CFO Mark Swartz nearly ruined Tyco due to their greed and several conflicts of interest. They were only concerned with their personal gains and not those of its stakeholders. If the company follows its code of conduct, problems like those that arose in the Tyco case would not have happened or gotten nearly as bad as they did. I believe Kozlowski thought he was untouchable and could do whatever he wanted to do as long as he didn’t get caught. Greed will eventually come back on you and be the reason of your downfall. The major issues in this case were conflict of interest by embezzling funds. They used monies that should have been used to help manage the company for their own self-indulgences. They used the funds to buy themselves luxury homes, boats, jewelry, and fine art. Kozlowski even gave his wife a $2.1 million dollar birthday party in Italy all at the company’s expense saying it was a management meeting with the board of directors (Tyco). Bribery was another major issue. Bribery was committed when Mr. Walsh, the director of Tyco International accepted 20 million dollars to arrange for the acquiring of CIT Group without the board of directors knowledge (Tyco). Also accounting fraud was a major issue. Kozlowski, Swartz, and Mark Belnick (Tyco’s legal counsel) falsified the business records to hide a great amount...
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...Most boards of directors approve of such deals for disgraced CEOs on their way out, because they are usually honoring what was negotiated at the beginning prior to the CEO taking the job. It's no different from a baseball player making 25 million a year to fail 8 out 10 times on average and hit 15 homeruns out of nearly 700 plate appearances. A deal is a deal, and when it comes to CEO's such agreements are negotiated to promote CEO actions that are in the best interest of the firm and to recruit executives who are most capable of achieving desired results. Poor corporate governance may play a role in the granting of some dubious severance packages. However, as pay-disclosure rules mandated by the SEC have become stricter and the public has become more aware of the extent of executive compensation, corporate boards have begun to offer less extravagant pay packages. Within this environment, perquisites have disappeared quickly while severance pay appears to have remained, suggesting that there is a place for it within an executive’s compensation agreement. In addition, research suggests little association between the presence of ex-ante severance agreements and yardsticks commonly used to measure executive board strength, such as the fraction of outside directors, or whether an executive board staggers the elections of its board members. Furthermore, the reasons why a potential CEO negotiating from a strong position would focus negotiations upon severance pay instead of more...
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...UNITED STATES AUTO INDUSTRY BACK ON TOP . . . OF CEO PAY Valerie Lieber MGT 2500 Human Resource Management February 11, 2015 INTRODUCTION Executive compensation has been at the forefront of discussion for a long period of time. Analyzed by academics, highlighted by the media, questioned by Congress, and scrutinized by the general public, the topic warrants much debate. In the 1990’s, total executive compensation increased substantially as companies began offering stock option programs; CEO’s of S&P 500 saw an average increase of 150%. While many top U.S. executives continued to receive enormous compensation options throughout the economic downturns of 2001 and 2008, none was more apparent than those in the automotive industry. While the big three, comprising of General Motors, Ford and Chrysler, were facing insurmountable debt and possibly bankruptcy, top executives were receiving some of the highest reparations ever experienced by directors of the companies. The case study presented in Managing Human Resources, Sixteenth Edition by Snell and Bohlander brings to mind the fact that during 2011, Ford CEO, Alan Mulally, received $53.5 million in stock awards. Many discussions can be derived from this statement. However, a basic understanding of modern corporate compensation structures must first be realized. Along with understanding these compensation structures, knowledge of the views on economic rent and optimal contracting must also be developed. Corporate...
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...cites how Wall Street operates on a daily without any care to how any financial institutions operate their business. The main focus of the book was to show the readers the reality of Wall Street and all the greed that comes along with trading. Lewis, different from most authors, actually tells you the reality of life in trading. He walks you thru step by step on how to survive on a daily basis and ways to deal with these aggressive, money hungry individuals. Lewis described his time on Wall Street as an interesting experience. At the beginning, he started out as an analyst which was an entry level job. His main job was to run errands for the higher ups. But, by doing this, he was involved in trades that included several millions of dollars. His training program was portrayed as one of the best on Wall Street. If you graduate from the program that basically guarantees that you are going to have a successful career. After some time, Lewis concluded that this job came with many drawbacks. He developed stress do to the long and intense hours that was required on Wall Street. Lewis puts an interesting and comical spin on the rise and fall of Solomon Brothers. The crash of Solomon Brothers was a tough one as it ended with almost $300 million dollars in fines, banishment of the CEO and a jail sentence for a famous bond trader. The environment at Solomon Brothers was an intense one, as you had a bunch of Harvard graduates thrown into a workplace that was filled with bullies. Congressional...
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...Corporation and WorldCom was simply corporate governance failure (Stanford GSB Staff, 2016). The smaller factors that led to the governance failure were such things as increases in executive compensation and stock options, jumps to incentives to manage earnings, and major shifts in the structure of auditing firms. These changes directly led to the loss of money and public confidence. These reason can be classified as nothing other than management greed. This can be validated by the statistical increases in worker compensation which rose forty-two percent in the 1990s as well as corporate profits rose eighty-eight percent, the standard and poor index increased two hundred and forty-eight percent, as well as CEO compensation rose four hundred and sixty-three percent during this timeframe (Stanford GSB Staff, 2016). This lead to an increase in corporations, such as Enron Corporation and WorldCom, to have to continually restate earnings to attempt to correct inconsistencies in reporting earnings (Stanford GSB Staff, 2016). This showed that management greed was the main driving factor in the changes. Additionally, auditing firms became more client focused which was an attempt to sell clients...
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