PALO ALTO, Calif. (CNN/Money) -
Planes, trains and box seats for the ex-CEO of General Electric. A $15-million blow-off for the ex-president of Microsoft.
The funny thing about how out of hand this all has gotten is that there's nothing new here. For at least the 15 years I've been paying attention to how corporate America works, the old boys (and only more recently, girls) club that is comprised of CEOs and the boards that employ them has operated according to a simple golden rule: Take care of each other first.
And so, never mind that an executive like Jack Welch made tens of millions of dollars at GE in cash compensation alone. It's somehow also required that GE's shareholders support him -- and his estranged wife -- in the manner to which they've become accustomed, even after he's retired (some of Welch's perks were revealed on Friday -- see more).
And in the case of Microsoft's Rick Belluzzo, Steve Ballmer seems to feel bad that his pal didn't work out as president of Microsoft, an impossible task, so Microsoft (MSFT: up $0.88 to $48.70, Research, Estimates) told Belluzzo he doesn't have to pay back a loan he took out to buy stock when he joined up (see more).
But getting back to the main point, this sort of behavior has gone on for years. A decade ago I covered the Baby Bells and watched the executives there -- all talented bureaucrats who'd grown up in the Bell System -- get stinking rich because they ladled oodles of options on each other. Of course these companies made most of their money as regulated phone monopolies and any dope could have played steward to those profits.
It's been irksome for years and now is irking more people that rich guys who've already eaten from the shareholders' trough for years have to be given more to feed their egos and keep them happy.
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Let's be clear, however, whose "fault" this is: Ours. Plain and simple. Don't act shocked, shocked that Wall Streeters have their hands out or that corporate executives love their perks because we, the investing public, have been encouraging them for years. We're only really upset now because GE's shares are down and plenty of folks have lost money on shares of Microsoft, even as Belluzzo gets made whole.
Now we're involved of course, and the public is as mad as hell and doesn't want to take it anymore. So give it back Jack -- and the rest of you too. Only then will faith be restored.
Adam Lashinsky is a senior writer for Fortune magazine. Send e-mail to Adam at lashinskysbottomline@yahoo.com.
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