Upper Management and Labor Unions

As I am starting to type this entry the thought that SOME Naive Americans might not like it has crossed my mind. Let’s be realistic it will not be liked by MOST readers but I must be true to the essence of this web site.

During the last presidential elections there were a few (very few) entertaining political television ads. I have to label them entertaining due to the fact that advertisements are geared to sell the viewer on something and lets face it, politicians in general, do not have desirable ideas for sale. The ad I have in mind might not have been so good because I am able to remember it but cannot recall the candidate behind it.

I spent a few minutes on-line looking for the ad in question but my search did not return the desired results (sorry about that). Due to this fact I will attempt to briefly describe it. Perhaps the reader has seen it.

The TV ad focuses on a set of about four (4) individuals sitting on the higher end of a titter totter. The expressions on their faces and the clothing they are wearing tend to indicate they are angry representatives of the working class. On the other lower end of the titter totter there is a single smiling overweighed male adorned with jewelry wearing a nice suit. The ad makes it obvious that the weight of the well dress single individual could not possibly hold him on the lower (and controlling) end of the titter totter.

A voice comes on and starts providing the political message. As this is occurring the expression and actions of the well-dressed individual start changing as he starts going up and the group of working individuals start assuming the lower and controlling position. This Naive American got the message loud and clear. The RIGHT CHANGE could only occur if fellow Americans cast their vote for the proper career politician. One could conclude that some branch of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor (DFL) Party was responsible for the contents of the ad.

As we all know opinions are subjective (may or may not be correct). In the US we are taught that Americans are entitled to have our own and different opinion. On what we base our opinions is a complete different story. We are made believe that our opinions count due to our corrupt, inadequate and irresponsible legal system. For some reason most Naive Americans believe that a group of jurors (typically with a lower level of education) are able to determine who committed a crime based on the way two (2) individuals (trial lawyers trained to convince people) sell their stories. This may sound absurd but this is how we do it in America.

Remember Christopher Columbus (1451 – 1485)? He came with the idea that the world was round based on a simple physical fact (not opinion) and the rest of the world was wrong. That earth is the center of the universe? That was worse. Galileo Galilei (1564 – 1642) came up with the idea that the earth rotates around the sun and because of that he was not only ignored but also prosecuted. Galileo had the facts the rest of the world had just wrong subjective opinions.

You might say, well we have come long ways from the time of Columbus and Galileo, and what is mot important those two (2) guys were not Naive Americans. Do you recall in 2003 listening to Richard Cheney and George Bush making the argument that Saddam Hussein, president and / or dictator of Iraq, had weapons of mass destruction, and in order to prevent him from using them against the US and our allies, we started a war that has cost the lives of many Naive Americans and greatly contributed to the destruction of the US Economy? The fact is that the entire intelligence was based on a false story of an Iraqi national seeking residence in the US. I guess that was an expensive “Green Card”.

It appears that most people come up with subjective opinions based on hear say and the media (television, newspapers and the WWW) and do not wish to seek and take into account the actual facts. In retrospect every single time the reasons for people coming up with wrong opinions could always be traced to the interests of few powerful individuals and / or organizations that wish to control masses of Naive Americans for their own financial benefit.

Getting back to our political ad, we have two (2) very well defined groups of Naive Americans. The members of one set include mostly blue-collar workers, epitomized by the “fat and lazy union auto worker” that want to make more money than they should based on their education and level of skills and work as little as possible. Let’s face it, we all know unions were a fast remedy for the labor issues in the past, but they are no longer needed and should be dissolved. We now have labor departments and unemployment benefits.

The members of the second set are company executives that make millions of Dollars in compensation a year. What could a person do that is so important and so unique when running a company that deserves in return more than the salary of the president of the United States of America? The answer to this question is nothing. Take for example the top management of all three (3) car companies in the US. Combined they make about $100 million Dollars a year in compensation. Look objectively at what they have accomplished with their respective companies in the past decades. All three (3) companies are about to disappear. Their troubles did not start a few months ago with the bursting of the housing bubble caused by Wall Street.

In conclusion the USA is in need of a dramatic CHANGE, which will not be brought by president-elect Obama or his staff. Politicians in this country are part of the problem, not part of the solution. The change must come from every single Naive American, which includes leaders and members of unions, employees and executives. The issue is that without a reasonable and attainable plan, nothing is going to CHANGE.

The Naive American proposes the following plan that is simple to understand and follow, and would facilitate economic recovery.

Politicians should pass legislation that caps salaries for all executives in all companies to $200,000 Dollars a year. No other benefit (i.e., house staff, company car, company jet, company yacht, company house, vacation house, etc, etc, etc), except health insurance would be allowed by law. Vacation time should be limited to a reasonable two (2) weeks a year in addition to all Federal US holidays. If the executive is used to an extravagant life style (which most do) then the spouses should look for a job like most Naive Americans do.

Naive Americans working in companies as white-collar workers should concentrate and dedicate themselves to their jobs by being on time and working hard and smart. Legislation should be passed to cap their salaries and compensation just like executives. This way management and technical white-collar employees would be similarly motivated to work.

Professionals and white-collar workers would have a range with a cap on salaries based on the type of work. This would allow employers to provide the best workers with higher compensation but within reason. The logic behind is to keep costs under control. Companies should be allowed to motivate good employees with stock options.

Naive Americans working on blue-collar jobs would have their wages adjusted and topped by law based on the skill level. It is not possible that a person sweeping floors in a building be earning $30 Dollars per hour with a guaranteed number of overtime hours per month at time and a half. How can the economy of any country keep this up with a working force in which 80% of the population is dedicated to services?

No matter which type of job is performed for a company, employees could be rewarded with stock options at a price set by law as a percentage of the current value of the shares. Stock options should have waiting and expiration time periods. The logic behind this approach is for employees that feel they are not properly being compensated to leave for a different job and most important, for the stockholders to be able to compensate upper management that performs. Could you imagine how greedy stockholders would react by having to dilute their shares to compensate a CEO that in years has not performed?

A word of caution, our Federal Government would have companies heavily taxed when outsourcing any step in the design and manufacturing of goods. This would make the Naive American work hard and smart and not have our government resort to applying tariffs on imported goods. The Naive American needs to allow other countries to fairly complete in a global market with price and quality, not enabling greedy stockholders to continue to destroy the USA.

An alternative is not to CHANGE and continue with the free and unregulated market and watch how the USA continues its down spiral. The Bush Administration, spearheaded by Vice President Cheney, has scarred the Naive American with threats of terrorism in the US in order justify the huge waste in military expenditure and wars. The matter of fact is that Osama bin Laden, Al-Qaeda, the Taliban and who knows which other terrorist group might be out there, must already have figured out that the US will succumb to itself.

We are the enemy!