Umm, first of all, CEO stands for Chief Executive Officer. The patsy your making out in this article would be the "CFO" or Chief Financial Officer. Other than spelling though, you make some decent points.

Just think though, without the Chief Executive Officer, there wouldn't be the huge corporations on which we rely to create all those jobs (you know, the ones we alternate blamnig and praising the President of the US for, when he has little to do with it). :~D

Without the Chief Financial Officer, the economics of the corperation fails, for lack of leadership.

Of course, CEOs and CFOs have become four letter words lately, mostly because the government has finally shot a few down to size. Of course, the government has no place to be shooting anyone down for dispicable book cooking. If anybody belongs in prison for book cooking it should be Congress for their "rob peter then rob paul" methods of running the books with Social Security.

To me, it's CEOs, CFOs and SUV today. In the 90's, Prs. Clinton needed an evil buzzword after the Oklahoma City Bombing, so he dropped the word "Militias" on the press, and, like the lap dog the press can be, they took the word and made "Militia" the next lowest thing to Jaba the Hutt.

The working class likes to rip apart the execs, and the execs look down on the workers. The truth is, without the other, niether would have much of a reason to exist.

CEO stands for Chief Economic Officer

i thought it stood for chief executive office (with cfo = chief financial officer]...not that it's that significant a quibble. in corporations where there are several divisions, each with its own president, it sorta makes sense. otherwise it makes the presidency superfluous--sorta like those countries where the premier is superior to the prime minister or prime minister supercedes the president.

all of those you mention are excellent sources of entertainment--or would be if their actions didn't ultimately impact the rest of us. you might also have added disney's mike eisner and his former buddy mike ovitz, as well as my nominee for 'unqualified except for his rolodex' ceo of the last centurey: dick cheney, who--despite having virtually zilch in the way of experience running a large corporation--was recruited as ceo of haliburton.

Kingbee, you are too kind. Ted, you are right on and I blew the punchline. Well, not really the punchline, but it was supposed to be funny and I was wrong.

Arghh, I hate it when a humorous post goes awry.

I'll just go slink off now.

Laughed my ass off, Larry - great stuff. Thanks.

Then I cried...

...when I remembered that actual corporate boards let this shit go on. Those CEO's were only as good as the idiots who hired them. Too many board directorships are nothing more than trophies or dressed-up bribes awarded to people wholly incapable of discharging a fiduciary duty, and/or completely beholding to whoever gets them the plum (not to mention a sizable chunk of cash and your customary jet set perks) for their resume, often the very CEO they are expected to oversee. Just for example, and with all due respect to Babs, a lady I really like, what does Barbara Bush bring to a corporate board other than her name (even if it is, in her case, a "foundation" board)?

There are so many incestuous relationships among any 3 Fortune 500 boards, throwing darts to pick 'em, it's just ridiculous. The CEO's committed the crimes but the boards handed them the guns and ammo then looked the other way. Big Corporate boards are largely a sad joke - the evidence speaks for itself. I'd love to offer up a constructive suggestion here, but damned if I know how to fix it.

Cheers,
Daiwa

my nominee for 'unqualified except for his rolodex' ceo of the last centurey: dick cheney, who--despite having virtually zilch in the way of experience running a large corporation--was recruited as ceo of haliburton.

I liked that one, too, kingbee - points to you.

I like Cheney as a politician and human being, but he had no more business running Halliburton than you or me, at least from a strictly management perspective. Unless you step back and realize that for that particular company in that particular industry, that Rolodex might well have made him the single most highly-qualified individual for the job at the time. An argument could be made that Halliburton's board was acting very much in the company's best interests in hiring him, something not enough boards can genuinely claim.

Cheers,
Daiwa

Ooh, "Haliburton", there is another political "buzzword" villain!! Thanks for bringing that one up!!! ;~D

for that particular company in that particular industry, that Rolodex might well have made him the single most highly-qualified individual for the job at the time. An argument could be made that Halliburton's board was acting very much in the company's best interests in hiring him, something not enough boards can genuinely claim

and some people still say 'it ain't who you know...'

a more cynical observer might suggest cheney had already earned his first year's salary even before he signed on.

another political "buzzword" villain

only a buzzword when used indiscrimintately. unfortunately that happens often enough to lull those who can clearly see the danger in unchecked power into ignoring the equally harmful consequences of putting all one's eggs into a single source supplier's basket.

CEO = Chief EXECUTIVE Officer. If you can't get that right, why should i care about the rest of the post?

Not only is he the Chief Executive Officer, but that means that he has the ultimate decision-making authority (within the limits the board of directors and government regulations have set, of course). And that's why he's paid so much money. Because ultimately the success or failure of the company leads right back to him: to the authority he wields and the authority he chooses to delegate to others.

Not that this means anything about the propriety of this or that specific CEO's salary size, but as others have already pointed out, who cares, when the article author can't even get the basics right?

CEO = Chief EXECUTIVE Officer. If you can't get that right, why should i care about the rest of the post?

Jeff - Because then you would know that this has already been pointed out not once but twice and the author has acknowledged his mistake.

Great article Kupe. I think you made some good points and it was funny to boot! (as always).

Jeff said "If you can't get that right, why should i care about the rest of the post?"

Jeff, when "I" is used as a pronoun, it should be capitalized.

Don't worry, though. I forgive you your errors in the hope that you will forgive me mine. In fact, I look forward to your posts, when you get a chance to actually write some.

who cares, when the article author can't even get the basics right?

however he resolved the acronym, there's no valid basis for questioning larry's knowledge of the subject. the best evidence of his more than adequate grasp of the subject is how scathingly he indentified and indicted those who've abused the position, its duties and responsibilities.

anyone who'd dismiss larry's entire piece over something so trivial risks having his own work similarly savaged should any deviant spelling or errant grammar be discovered therein.

Don't ask me how, but I happen to know a couple of folks who were fairly high up in WorldCom management during the Ebbers era but left before the shit hit the fan - they say he's worse than the prosecutors let on. Take that with a grain of salt, of course, since they could have a less than completely objective point of view.

Nonetheless, people like Ebbers really have no defense - either they were totally clueless (and failed in their fiduciary responsibility as a result) or completely culpable (and failed in their fiduciary responsibilty as a result). They are "guilty" either way.

Cheers,
Daiwa

P.S. Sure wish they'd get the JU autologon fixed!!

I read the other day that some ex-ENRON guy is now working to turn around Krispy Creme donuts.....first move was to cut the executive staff by half, and sell the corporate jet.....he's getting paid something like $4000.00 per hour....
hehehehe