"Peter MacPherson" wrote in message news:464ld.24424$V41.22997@attbi_s52...
Did Delta also end an era of luxurious "management pay" by 32.5 percent?
I tend to think not.....

Perhaps I'm too conservative but I'll never understand that line of
thinking. Pilot's saleries are dictated by unions. There are 100
pilots wanting to work for every airline pilot employeed. Saleries
would normally be quite low with so many wanting those jobs, but the
union makes them high.
Executives have high saleries because they do a job few can do. Not
many people on this planet can be good CEOs. CEOs are highly paid for
the same reason NBA Basketball stars are, not many people can do those
jobs. CEOs can be let go if the board thinks their saleries are too
high, pilots cannot. If another CEO offers to work for Delta for less,
the board can fire the current CEO and hire the less expensive guy at
any time. The board cannot just hire their friends because they can
get fired. The institutional investors and fund managers make their
money 100% on the company's bottom line. They will not stand for
spending their money on a CEO being paid more than he's worth on the
market. The board are elected by these fund managers and institutional
invesytors. If the company spends more money than they need to, the
stock will do less well, the fund managers will lower their efficiency
rating, and investors (mostly retirement accounts) will choose other
funds to invest in. Everyone has someone to answer to. A good CEO can
make or break a company, its worth paying full market rate for a good
CEO.
Free market economics works amazingly well if we just let it be free.

-Robert, FAA Certified Flight Instructor, Commercial Pilot and MBA