Geraldo Rivera had it in for both businesses big and small as he attacked them and conservatives over minimum wage and compensation packages on last night's Geraldo At Large. During his final commentary, on the Fox News syndicated program, Rivera found conservatives' resistance to a minimum wage increase, "deeply troubling," and claimed it exposed "a cancer at the very heart of capitalism," compared to the "obscene fortunes" made by "mediocre business executives." Rivera then proclaimed his "belief in free enterprise," but invited on Rep. Barney Frank to spew this socialistic propaganda: "We are talking about a very real inequity in our society where a very small number of people are monopolizing almost all the increased wealth and most people are getting none of it." To expose inflated compensation packages Rivera singled out former Home Depot exec Robert L. Nardelli, calling him a "loser," but perhaps Rivera shouldn't be so quick to attack the overpaid given that his own employer, Fox News, just axed his show.
The following is a complete transcript of Rivera’s final segment from the January 4 Geraldo At Large:
Geraldo Rivera: "The Democrats took over Congress today for the first time in 12 years. One of the first things they're planning to do is to raise the minimum wage which has been stuck at $5.15 an hour for almost 10 years. Now what I find amazing and deeply troubling is how many conservative commentators still think raising the minimum wage to $7.25 an hour is a bad idea, especially in light of the outrageous amounts that some very bad bosses are being paid. First of all while it is as much as my hard-working dad ever earned in his life that was 30 years ago. Nobody can live on $5.15 an hour any more. It works out to about $200 a week, $10,700 a year and still they complain. Small businesses, that they'll no longer be able to afford staff. Conservatives, that kids who can make more, will be more likely to drop out of school. But despite my belief in free enterprise I think the continued reluctance to raise the minimum wage exposes a cancer at the very heart of capitalism especially when you compare the money we're talking about here to the obscene fortunes being raked in these days by a growing number of mediocre business executives. Take the loser who just got kicked out of his job at Home Depot yesterday. Ousted by his companies board of directors Robert L. Nardelli is expected to receive a condolence prize valued at $210 million. That works out to about $45 million for each of the six years he was leading his company into the toilet, its stock dropping 20 percent. $210 million. Do you know how many kids could get paid the new minimum wage out of this loser's severance package alone? Let me tell you. $7.25 an hour would cover the salaries of 13,925 workers for a year from what this one guy is getting to leave the company he kicked in the groin costing his stockholders millions. Congressman Barney Frank, the incoming chairman of the House Financial Services committee thinks the pattern of executive compensation is out of control. The new chairman joins me from Washington where the 110th Congress convened today for the first time. Congressman welcome, congratulations on your new chairmanship. We computed that the $210 million that Nardelli is taking out of Home Depot could pay almost 14,000 kids the new minimum wage of $7.25 an hour for a whole year. Is that right?"
Rep. Barney Frank: "Yes and I'm glad you put it in those terms. We're not simply talking about some of us resenting the fact that others get more money. There are two problems here. First we've been told that these very, very large sums, far more than anybody could have ever spend in a lifetime that they are justified as pay for performance. That you give them these large amounts of money because they do so well. Well the man just got $210 million for being fired. And then as you point out, 14,000 of them could have gotten that raise for a year for what one guy takes home. We are talking about a very real inequity in our society where a very small number of people are monopolizing almost all the increased wealth and most people are getting none of it."
Rivera: "Congressman Barney Frank thank you very much. Good luck on the new Congress."
Frank: "Thank you."
—Geoffrey Dickens is the senior news analyst at the Media Research Center.
Comments Policy
Geraldo finally released on w
January 5, 2007 - 12:28 ET by donsalesGeraldo finally released on waivers from the FOX network....
IT'S ABOUT TIME.......
He'll find a happier, more inclusive enviroment over at NBC in some reporting capacity......good riddance.....
BTW, Geraldo failed to mention the terms of HIS multi-year contract with the cable network........I guess capitalism ONLY works when it coming YOUR way....PUTZ!
Nowhere to Run....Nowhere To Hide.....
Right
January 5, 2007 - 12:36 ET by iveseenitallRight, Donsales. The blantant hypocrisy of this talentless multi-millionaire is probably stunning to those who are seeing it for the first time. This guy's logic is nowhere in sight on most issues, he's a racist, and quite ugly to boot.
NEVER,NEVER trust a liberal
did he tell you that?
January 5, 2007 - 12:41 ET by tumbler_2007". . . he's a racist, and quite ugly to boot." He's not good looking, and usually a shameless leftie. But a racist?
How do you figure? Is there a lot of racist rhetoric coming from him all the time; as there has been from you and a few others here? I think you are a pot calling the kettle black, frankly. (Just an opinion & I've been wrong in the past.)
Racist.
January 5, 2007 - 12:51 ET by iveseenitallTumbler
Geraldo is blind to the truth, as are you. You don't even know me, yet you have called me and others on this site racists quite a number of times. You are a disgusting individual.
NEVER, NEVER trust a liberal
iveseenitall....You must reme
January 5, 2007 - 13:09 ET by donsalesiveseenitall....
You must remember that tumbler is an Hispanic-American and a good practicing Catholic from New Mexico.....
While we might all agree on MOST issues, you will NEVER win an argument with tumbler when it comes to illegal immigration and taking on ANYBODY with an Hispanic background.....much like African-Americans since the beginning of time.......
What tumbler FAILS to recognize is that Geraldo Rivera (Jerry Rivers) grew up in NY as a nice Jewish boy; and took the opportunity to change his name and MO when metro broadcast news departments were looking to hire MINORITIES back in the late 60's.......If they were hiring nice Jewish boys from the Bronx, he'd have remained Jerry Rivers.....
Geraldo/Jerry is a fraud and has been a fraud all of this adult life.......
tumbler....this isn't racial....these are the facts.....
Nowhere to Run....Nowhere To Hide.....
I didn't know THAT about Geraldo!
January 5, 2007 - 13:39 ET by Six String SpiffHa! too funny! oops I mean TDF! hee hee To hypocritical expose's (the french pronounciation) in one thread, ha!
Not all Muslims are Terrorists. However, all the Terrorists have been Muslim.
Tumby, I'll make you a deal.
January 5, 2007 - 13:08 ET by Six String SpiffTumby, I'll make you a deal. We'll agree to call them 'Undocumented ________' But, we get to be undocumented INS agents and can throw them out, agreed?
Not all Muslims are Terrorists. However, all the Terrorists have been Muslim.
dear angry knee-jerks
January 5, 2007 - 13:32 ET by tumbler_2007Dear Pals,
I'm not a Geroldo fan at all. He sure wouldn't like me. His opinions about capitalism suck. I just wanted seenabit to show her proof that the guy's a racist. Am I surprised that she can't do it? NO; she herself doesn't realize what racist means in this society. You do not need to lynch a black salve or kick a Jew's child into a gutter before his very eyes to be a racist.
All you have to do is hate somebody on account of his race and/or color. ME? I love everybody; I even love the illegal aliens. Love forgives, is not proud. Love SHARES with the unloved in this life; like Mother Theresa shared. Not like the Democrats share, Other Peoples' money.
I requested Roger the Scrubber bring me up to speed about my "stances" on illegal immigration. I want to see & understand what he finds reprehensible about me, regarding the swarms of illegal aliens in his town. Just TELL me what I'm doing wrong in this blog, at least. He has no clue. All he says is he dislikes me; and now he blames me for the fiasco on our border where smugglers are running amok. That means I suck. OK; just tell me what I did.
Roger the SCRUBBER? c'mon dude... pathetic
January 5, 2007 - 13:42 ET by Six String SpiffTumby, why is it that YOU are the first one to bring up race in E-V-E-R-Y thread.. I want to like you more, but you are preventing it, my friend.
Not all Muslims are Terrorists. However, all the Terrorists have been Muslim.
Racist
January 5, 2007 - 15:15 ET by iveseenitallTumbler. You make many assumptions about me. Again, you don't don't know me, who I am, or what I've done in my life. You are the one full of hate for your fellow man, based on nothing other than that he disagrees with you. Your thinking process is flawed and illogical. Might I assume from that that you are not very well educated? No, I'm not going to make assumptions. I leave that to the ignorant.
NEVER,NEVER trust a liberal
Tumbler, before you call the
January 5, 2007 - 13:18 ET by tgibbsjrTumbler, before you call the pot black, please be careful of what you spray out there. Just for the record, I looked up the defintion of racism in the Webster's Dictionary. It is as follows:
a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race
Keep this up, and I would like you to copy and paste what you see as "racial" comments.
As is, your belief that people who are here illegally, should not be punished is borderline racial.
tgibbsjr...
January 5, 2007 - 13:46 ET by Six String SpiffYou aren't looking in the correct dictionary. The term 'racism' is now located under the "Perverted words" section. You know right next to the definition of 'IS'...
Not all Muslims are Terrorists. However, all the Terrorists have been Muslim.
Ooohhhh....my apologies, Spac
January 5, 2007 - 14:46 ET by tgibbsjrOoohhhh....my apologies, Spaceman. I should've known better than that. You'll have to forgive me. I'm learning a lot today. I've learned that anybody who is against ILLEGAL immigration is a race-hating, Hitler loving, moron with the average IQ of a peanut. I didn't realize how much hate was inside me. I feel....almost relieved....like a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders. What an epipheny!! Can't wait to share my new found information with my bigoted wife and blond-haired-blue eyed-superior-race daughter.
tggibbs,
January 5, 2007 - 14:00 ET by tumbler_2007I have no SPRAY; I speak and I write. I'm proud of what I write here.
Instead of having racists tell me the meaning of the word, I expect some substantiating evidence from them. For instance, how is Geraldo a racist; particularly since he was ranting against capitalists? We have characters in here who call another guy racist, but spend all day crying bloody murder about immigrants who mostly speak Spanish and eat beans. You know; God's evil creations? Just the way Nazis demonized an ethnic minority in Germany back in the 1930's.
Oh, I suppose not all Nazis hated Jews (they'll tell you that). But they all spread the hateful word and some do even now; that Jews are greedy, indecent, ugly. This is the air they've always breathed. Now we dump on Geraldo, on account of his Jewishness. (but we like Jews, understand?) The man happens to be Puerto Rican an d jewish. Puerto Ricans have RICARDOS, Pals. Rivera is a Spanish name. Many thousands of them live around Spanish harlem. Is it a flaw in Jerry Rivers, who feels himself a hispanic as well as a Jew? Why find that so offensive?
Because, though you deny it; race matters a lot to youz guys. RACISM is easy to deny, but you can't hide your hatred.
tumbler..."Because, thou
January 5, 2007 - 14:16 ET by bassndudetumbler..."Because, though you deny it; race matters a lot to youz guys. RACISM is easy to deny, but you can't hide your hatred." That can read both ways there. From what I have read of your posts, you are definitely bordering on raceism yourself. That you are sympathetic to the illegals come through. Tho armed Mexicans attack our people at the border, you still defend these people. Race has nothing to do with my view on the border. But when it costs me money, my taxes support these people. When they attack my fellow citizens, it is time to put a stop to it. Any way that works. Fences or armed patrols with orders to shoot. Either way is fine with me.
Save a SeAL, club a liberal!!
tumbler...Your comments are C
January 5, 2007 - 14:41 ET by donsalestumbler...
Your comments are COMPLETE HOGWASH!
Your thesis is predicated entirely on the persecution of minorities in this country THAT ENDED FOUR DECADES AGO!!!!!!
And while I'm at it, let's list those persecuted in this country since its founding:
Blacks
American Indians
Irish
Chinese
Italians
Poles
Slavs
Jews
Mexicans
Puerto Ricans
A/O Hispanics
Haitians
Indians/Pakistanis
Muslims
this list is endless.......but the thing all these folks have in common is that MOST of them did not dote on discrimination, they went out, worked, married, raised a family, moved up the social ladder and became "Americans".....NOT Afro-Americans, Hispanic-Americans, Irish-Americans, Italian-Americans, Muslim-Americans, etc.
What is tearing this country APART forever is the lack of self-identity as "Americans" and the insistence among a minority that ethnic/racial/social groups CELEBRATE and RETAIN their distinct characteristics and languages while enjoying the benefits of American citizenship and the laws that protect this nation (something Hispanics from below the border do not seem to appreciate or value these days).
You are the PROBLEM not the SOLUTION......get with the program.....cease this whipped dog whining about "racism"........
Just Get Over It........Most Everyone Else Has.......Move On....
Nowhere to Run....Nowhere To Hide.....
donsales, hogwash maybe?
January 5, 2007 - 15:11 ET by tumbler_2007Dear friend:
NOTHING is "tearing this country apart." Nothing CAN tear our country apart, not even if a major portion of our population is made up of dorks like you, who make big noises but never have anything useful to say. It's unfortunate but not all good Americans arrive at informed conclusions. Too many buy the morbid opinions of some other bigmouth. Use your sense and ponder the many important things we have to do; don't place every problem in your life at the doorsteps of somebody else. It's all over this blogsite: nothing but hysteria and pathetic complaints. Beating up on "lefties" and on the talking head of the day, and on "self-identity" your silly psycho babble of choice. Look at your miserable post up here; nothing but bold-type, uppercase, .... ... ... and ...BS. What do you KNOW about "hispanics below the border?" NOTHING. You just enjoy the soap box. I have no respect for egotistical blowhards. Here's a suggestion-- Get a life.
I'm nearing 70 years, and it took me a very long time to escape your dodo stage. I lived as if I couldn't learn from the other guy, I was the big shot. In time I became serene and happy in my state in life. Took the trouble to listen and evaluate everbody else's views. I've been fair with you. You don't like to be corrected or dissed. It's all EGO about you. You need experience. You need your Road to Damascus, like the apostle found; he finally learned. First though, he was tossed off his high horse. Then after extraordinary trials and experiences, he became Saint Paul. He got humility and followed Christ. Do that, don. Get off your soap box. Shut up and learn something new. Your present stage is to be a follower of BS in this society. Learn to lead. You could have potential to lead. AFTER you gain experience. I hope so, because you do mean well. You need some good counsel, and um here to give it to you.
Tumbler
January 5, 2007 - 15:26 ET by iveseenitallTumbler.Your distain for humanity is evident from what you just wrote. I, too, am old and have learned much from life. One thing I have learned is that ignorance is bliss for people like you.
NEVER,NEVER trust a liberal
I'm delighted you are reachin
January 5, 2007 - 15:30 ET by donsalesI'm delighted you are reaching 70....
I'm delighted that we share Catholicism in common....
But as for your kindly fatherly advice, forget about it.....
I know what of I speak having been on this planet just one decade later than you.....
Until you and other Hispanics in this country embrace and hold dear our language, our culture and our traditions, we are lost.....
While you talk a big game about your conservative values, these appear entrenched in either Mexico City or Madrid -- either way, they are not helping us to unite as a people.....too bad....
Nowhere to Run....Nowhere To Hide.....
You preach that we know nothi
January 5, 2007 - 15:34 ET by tgibbsjrYou preach that we know nothing about south of the border. Yet, you assume we're all racist (with that broad brush you carry), when you know nothing....nothing about any of us and our family makeup. When you know nothing of our families' history? Your proud of what you write, but yet someone else needs to "shut up" when they disagree with you on illegal immigration.
You speak of getting off a "soap box" and "high horse". We're expressing ourselves as well. You should familiarize yourself with the Bible verse that states "Don't point out the speck in someone's eye until you remove the log from yours".
tumbler.... If your so good a
January 5, 2007 - 15:40 ET by Clear thinkertumbler.... If your so good at counceling why don't you go to Mexico and help the poor folks there take back their country. Be a leader and go after the root cause.
Hey, donsales, can you imagin
January 5, 2007 - 13:09 ET by tgibbsjrHey, donsales, can you imagine a Chris Matthews / Gerry Rivers (aka Geraldo Rivera) combo. What a scream-fest that would be!! Look out Howard Dean.
J
Rodan VS Godzilla....with the
January 5, 2007 - 13:13 ET by donsalesRodan VS Godzilla....with the strings being manipulated by the DNC....
"Sh!t For Brains" -- the movie....lol
Nowhere to Run....Nowhere To Hide.....
Geraldo and Matthews both sha
January 5, 2007 - 13:27 ET by kathleenirishGeraldo and Matthews both share an uncanny resemblance to ventriloquists' dummies...
"He who has a thousand friends has not a friend to spare, and he who has one enemy will meet him everywhere" -Ali ibn-Abi-Talib, 4th Islamic Caliph
Cancel of Socialism
January 5, 2007 - 12:35 ET by EllisWyattCapitalism is a cancer? Then how is it that it's the only economic system with a proven ability to lift people out of poverty? Compare that to socialism, which infects healthy economies with high taxes and mountains of debt. Our steady adoption of socialistic government programs is the reason we have dropped from being the number one creditor nation to the number one DEBTOR nation.
BTW, how much money was Geraldo making at Fox? I'll bet it was a lot. Let's see him refuse a high salary on the grounds that it's unfair to other people in society.
If you're not outraged at the media, you haven't been paying attention.
"Do you know how many
January 5, 2007 - 13:04 ET by ckc1227"Do you know how many kids could get paid the new minimum wage out of this loser's severance package alone? Let me tell you. $7.25 an hour would cover the salaries of 13,925 workers for a year from what this one guy is getting to leave the company he kicked in the groin costing his stockholders millions."
So, if I understand the twisted logic of these nitwits, Home Depot should use their money to pay the salaries of 13,925 workers unaffiliated with them?
And then after one year they
January 5, 2007 - 15:06 ET by RunningBeerAnd then after one year they can let them all go. If you use the Geraldonomics calculator it all makes perfect sense!
$5.15 huh? The local garden
January 5, 2007 - 12:55 ET by mattm$5.15 huh? The local garden center is starting part-timers at $7.55/hour. (Of course, they expect you to work)
Libs are ignorant hypocrites. They say they want to solve the inequities in society yet they stand against the market-oriented solutions that would actually work.
The DemLibs want as many peop
January 5, 2007 - 13:13 ET by kathleenirishThe DemLibs want as many people as possible to be dependent on them and Big Government for their means of living. Period. They are all about class warfare, but they themselves stay away from all that b.s. talk about erasing 'inequality'. They will never give up their special status and perks 'for the good of the common man'. They are gunning for the people who actually do something and contribute something to this crumbling society. The REAL 'common man': us.
This so-called striving for 'economic justice' and 'leveling the playing field' doesn't apply to them. Extravagant pensions for life, especially for felon-ex congressmen; they are not a part of the Social Security System, probating their wills in cheaper states than the ones they claim to live in, blahblah. They want to screw YOU, though. (Double meaning for Barney) And, this stealing of YOUR money is all in the name of 'justice' and 'equality'.
Barney: you're still in the prostitute business.
"He who has a thousand friends has not a friend to spare, and he who has one enemy will meet him everywhere" -Ali ibn-Abi-Talib, 4th Islamic Caliph
Exactly! If you're someone
January 5, 2007 - 15:11 ET by RunningBeerExactly! If you're someone still working on minimum wage... QUIT!!! Go get a friggin job at a burger joint. Raise your expectations for a change. Sheeeze... even in the mid 80's I made $8 an hour - part time - answering phones at the UPS call center, with benefits. How many people actually work for the min anymore?
Liberals are communists.
January 5, 2007 - 15:48 ET by jonathanandersonLiberals are communists.
I am a liberal, but definitel
January 5, 2007 - 17:57 ET by Travis GibbyI am a liberal, but definitely not a communist.
"Liberalism is an ideology, philosophical view, and political tradition which holds that liberty is the primary political value"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberal
"Communism is an ideology that seeks to establish a classless, stateless social organization, based upon common ownership of the means of production."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communism
I do believe that the ideal society is one in which everyone is classless. In a perfect world, communism would be the perfect government, but in the real world so much power in the hands of government corrupts. This is because all government is self-interested. Only when the people demand their rights will their rights be upheld. In that sense communism is incompatible with liberty.
And Mr. Rivera is certainly not a liberal either. If he was so concerned about liberty, he wouldn't host a show dedicated to the presumption of guilt. I'm glad that his show is getting canceled.
Travis
Dream the impossible dream
January 5, 2007 - 20:30 ET by UnsaneYou can dream ALL you want about a classless society, but it won't happen. But then, the way you'd achieve it is through the theft of what others have earned because you think you have a claim on it.
An ideal society is one where everyone is permitted to succeed or fail of their own freewill because they have the same opportunities. Just because people can succeed/fail at whatever they want does not mean that everyone is entitled to the same paycheck.
"HAV3 TH3 BRIDG3S OF INSANITY B33N CROSS3D AND FOR3V3R R3TRACT3D???" - Meshuggah, "3ntrapm3nt", from Catch Thirty Thr33 (2005)
Unfortunately, I think that y
January 5, 2007 - 23:18 ET by Travis GibbyUnfortunately, I think that you are right. There probably never will be a classless society. However, please do not take what I said out of context. If you will read above, you will see that I clearly stated that I do not support communist government.
You said that an ideal society is one where everyone is permitted to succeed or fail on their own freewill because they have the same opportunities. I could not agree more. I don't think that is the way society works right now, but it is something that we should strive towards.
Travis
I sure would love to see why
January 21, 2007 - 04:55 ET by UnsaneI sure would love to see why and how society does not provide for equal opportunities. I had the same opportunities as anyone else to bust my rear and go to the Air Force Academy but instead wound up going to a nearby university and attending ROTC (for example). I chose not to play the games offered at high school. Was I penalized for it? Some would argue that, but I would argue vehemently, no I was not.
Please note that nowhere did I say you were a communist; however, many Leftists still want a classless society on the model of the failing, rotting EU. Oh sure, their health care and other goodies are "free", but at a great cost to the society at large. Those nations are ossifying before our eyes, initiative has been sapped, and economic incentives have been turned on their heads. It should be no wonder to anyone that countries like France and Germany have stubbornly persistent 9+% unemployment rates; so much so that publications like The Economist speak of "outsiders" (those out of work and cannot find employment, or are so coddled that they stop looking) and "insiders" (those who have work and can remain inside as they know the system and how to manipulate it).
This is not a vision I want for America. I say it again: keep turning everyone loose to pursue their passions as they see fit. THAT is what makes this country great, not government.
"HAV3 TH3 BRIDG3S OF INSANITY B33N CROSS3D AND FOR3V3R R3TRACT3D???." - Meshuggah, "3ntrapm3nt", from Catch Thirty Thr33 (2005)
MY nation has Cancer?
January 5, 2007 - 13:02 ET by Six String SpiffWell well well... He finally admits he hates our way of life and our prosperity. I never understood these fools. Hypocritical, whiney babies. The MSM can't even spell simlpe shit right on their graphics, and we're supposed to believe the rubbish they present to us as factual? Lousy SOBs. I do agree that this nation does indeed have a cancer and I can assure you it has NOTHING to do with capitalism, my friends.
Not all Muslims are Terrorists. However, all the Terrorists have been Muslim.
Hey, Spiff, I was just thinki
January 5, 2007 - 13:19 ET by kathleenirishHey, Spiff, I was just thinking about you this morning! I am sick with 'Release 'em all'-Deval Patrick-itis. That guy could win a contest in the most flagrant abuse of political empty-rhetoric ever heard. I think I can actually see his head expanding exponetially with every sentence.
How about you?
"He who has a thousand friends has not a friend to spare, and he who has one enemy will meet him everywhere" -Ali ibn-Abi-Talib, 4th Islamic Caliph
Hi Kathleen!
January 5, 2007 - 14:17 ET by Six String SpiffDeval is a cancer in my commonwealth... DOn't forget his plan though Kathleen. "Together we can..", and my personal favorite "Magic can happen.."
It makes me sick to my stomach. What magic is that clown going to do? Pull a crim-ailien out of my wallet?
Not all Muslims are Terrorists. However, all the Terrorists have been Muslim.
Spiffster,"pull a crim-a
January 5, 2007 - 21:00 ET by BlondeSpiffster,
"pull a crim-alien out of my wallet?"
Probably not.
Lots of dollars though. Lots, and lots of dollars.
"Nobody can live on $5.1
January 5, 2007 - 13:17 ET by Indiana Joe"Nobody can live on $5.15 an hour any more. It works out to about $200 a week, $10,700 a year and still they complain. Small businesses, that they'll no longer be able to afford staff." -Geraldo Rivera
It's a "minimum wage." NOT a "living wage." The term was, and should be, "entry-level wage." My first job in '73 paid $1.50 an hour. I was still in HS, lived at home, had no real expenses. It was "spending money." I drove a $200 dollar beater, and my income was mainly for gas, car repairs, and entertainment. I didn't plan to make my way through life at that job, or that income level.
And when I later worked at a small restaurant as a manager, and a minimum wage-hike was passed, the owner let a kitchen worker go to offset the increase in payroll costs. Anecdotal? Sure, but I'll bet dollars to doughnuts he wasn't the only one in the whole country to do it. These hikes always cost someone their job.
"Do you know how many kids could get paid the new minimum wage out of this loser's severance package alone? Let me tell you. $7.25 an hour would cover the salaries of 13,925 workers for a year..." -Geraldo Rivera
And after that first year...???
"And then as you point out, 14,000 of them could have gotten that raise for a year for what one guy takes home." - Barney Frank
No, Barney, that doesn't cover just the raise. Geraldo made it clear that covers the WHOLE $7.25/hour of their pay. Get your talking points straight between you before you come on and jerk each other, and us, off.
"We are talking about a very real inequity in our society where a very small number of people are monopolizing almost all the increased wealth and most people are getting none of it." - Barney Frank
Sounds like this may be an opening salvo in a "maximum-wage law" proposal, doesn't it? It does to me....
Every time Democrats jackhamm
January 5, 2007 - 15:46 ET by jonathanandersonEvery time Democrats jackhammer into law a raise in the socialist wage at least 100,000 people lose their jobs, another 500,000 are sent overseas, and at least 50,000 people are added to the welfare rolls.
Let STATES and LOCAL GOVERNMENTS set any necessary wage standards.
I think Geraldo needs to be s
January 5, 2007 - 13:20 ET by Dave RI think Geraldo needs to be slammed by Barney Frank for his stupidity.
This cancer he refers to has allowed the former Mr. Rivers to enjoy a standard of living that most of the people in this country will never attain, and, like many of the ingrates residing out in Hezbollywood, all he can do is slam the very vehicle that helped him to become wealthy.
Hey, Gerry, why not set the example by giving all your millions away?
Cavato shredded Barney Fwank
January 5, 2007 - 13:47 ET by bigtimerCavato shredded Barney Fwank yesterday on this exact subject....
Ailes sliced Rivers...
Job well done.
"If we ever forget that we are a Nation Under God....then we will be a Nation Gone Under." Ronald Reagan
Last time Barney was on Fox h
January 5, 2007 - 15:32 ET by RunningBeerLast time Barney was on Fox he kept trying to dance around the questions. When the interviewer (name escapes me) tried to bring him back on track he'd cry "we're never gonna get anywhere if you keep interupting me." Everytime! Regardless of how far off the topic he went. I think it's the new standard response anytime these libs are challenged with facts or truth.
It was Cavuto -- Rush has j
January 5, 2007 - 15:36 ET by Jack BauerIt was Cavuto -- Rush has just replayed it.
Franks has to be one of the most obnoxious, hateful jerks in the Democrat party.
And that's a high bar.
Proud member of the all-powerful and vast militarist/industrialist/capitalist/zionist-bagelist complex
Running Beer and Jack,I think
January 5, 2007 - 15:47 ET by bigtimerRunning Beer and Jack,
I think RB is referring to previously, before the Cavuto interview yesterday that I was referring to,(I surely could be wrong,) anyway, there have been I think two different interviews that Barney Fwnak has been on with Fox and he gwipes about the same twing...inteweppupting him, one was I think Chris Wallace and I cannot remember the other either...he does it all the time to try and denigrate FOX somehow, when he is just proving for the world to see what a blithering fool he is.
Evewytime!
(Another winning member from the dim's that heads an important committee...if it weren't so sad it would be hilarious!)
"If we ever forget that we are a Nation Under God....then we will be a Nation Gone Under." Ronald Reagan
Bt -- I do remember seeing
January 5, 2007 - 15:52 ET by Jack BauerBt -- I do remember seeing Fwanks on something doing his usual vomit making schtick a couple of weeks ago, and it sounded exactly like the Cavuto clip Rush just played.
So I assumed that's what I saw. Never assume, as they say!
Proud member of the all-powerful and vast militarist/industrialist/capitalist/zionist-bagelist complex
That's why the interviewers n
January 5, 2007 - 17:10 ET by RunningBeerThat's why the interviewers named escaped me, wasn't really paying attention to the blah blah blah blah. I was really hoping Franks would begin a froth at the mouth and fall over backwards!
Franks said it plain as day.
January 5, 2007 - 13:57 ET by bassndudeFranks said it plain as day. "..talking about some of us resenting the fact that others get more money." There it is right there. What a pair of maroons. It boils down to resentment that someone is making more money than they are. Big egos, small packages.
Save a SeAL, club a liberal!!
SIx figures a year...for what???
January 5, 2007 - 14:14 ET by UnsaneThe irony, which of course was never brought up, was that Barney Frank makes about $140,000 a year for doing nothing more than telling the rest of us what he can and cannot do from the comfy perch of his ivory tower.
And here he is whining about how he and others have a claim on the profits of corporations and other people. At least a CEO employs people and drives the engine of the economy, instead of parasitically feeding off of it in Congress.
"HAV3 TH3 BRIDG3S OF INSANITY B33N CROSS3D AND FOR3V3R R3TRACT3D???." - Meshuggah, "3ntrapm3nt", from Catch Thirty Thr33 (2005)
.....let's not dismiss the fa
January 5, 2007 - 14:25 ET by tgibbsjr.....let's not dismiss the fact that they come out millionaires themselves! Public service....ha! Forgive my cynicism.
Yes- good riddence to Heraldo
January 5, 2007 - 14:40 ET by NazarethYes- good riddence to Heraldo- I couldn';t beleive he was ever invited to speak on Fox in the first place- May his days be spend receiving what he dishes out
http://sacredscoop.com
There it is, right there... i
January 5, 2007 - 16:15 ET by Andrew H.There it is, right there... is Barney saying he thinks it should be the government's business how much one can make? Isn't it our business how much he makes? Why is it congresscritters go into office with a net worth of "X" and leave with a sudden explosion of net worth many times over, most of the time? We're looking in the wrong direction and should be demanding an accounting from congress for their "earnings." Let's start with Barney.
Liberalism is a convenient lie.
Maybe I think that Geraldo'
January 5, 2007 - 16:46 ET by MyKindaSpamMaybe I think that Geraldo's extreme salary is unwarrented because of his poor performance and that he is a "loser" too. If it is so obscene that some CEOs make amounts that are so much greater than their lower-paid rank and file workers, then I can only assume that HE takes only as much as the highest paid crew member and divides the rest of his salary between these workers that he is so fond of championing. If he doesn't, wouldn't that mean that he is making a "deeply troubling" "obscene fortune" as a "mediocre *reporter*?" Or does the "cancer" not extend to his greed.
If Barney Franks thinks that the stockholders of companies should b e able to decide what the salary for the CEO is instead of the board of trustees, then I think that the stockholders (the voters) of America should be able to decide what the salary for the politicians are instead of the politicians themselves. If that kind of incestuous relationship in business leads to corruption, then that kind of incestuous relationship in politics will also lead to corruption, right?
Righto MyKindaSpam
January 5, 2007 - 16:54 ET by misterbillRighto MyKindaSpam. Kinda like sauce for the goose, etc....................
F*** our new majority and esp. that dimbulb who is (oooooooooo!) the first woman speaker.
As a voter, you can vote agai
January 5, 2007 - 17:17 ET by Archibald CoxAs a voter, you can vote against your rep or senator if you're not happy with anything they do, incl. giving him/herself a pay raise. So, in effect, the "stockholders" of America can help set salaries for the representatives. (Although I've always been of a mind that if we paid them more, we'd get better people running, but that's another issue.)
But you seem to be suggesting that CEOs don't make enough. That's just nuts. You've got to be blind not to be able to see that executive salaries have simply gone out of control. How does it help the average Joe in any way, shape or form for the CEO to be making gazillions, even at companies that aren't performing particularly well? When a guy gets fired but walks away with a multimillion severance package, doesn't that make you raise an eyebrow? If Joe loading dock gets fired, he no longer gets a paycheck.
As for the minimum wage, lots of states have minimum wages that are around what is being proposed on the federal level. There's no evidence it's done any harm in any of them. It's been nearly 10 years since we've raised the federal minimum wage. Yes, many people can get jobs that pay better than the minimum, but - obviously - not all. Anyone paying less is practically paying slave wages and should be stopped.
Patriotism means to stand by the country. It does not mean to stand by the president or any other public official. - Theodore Roosevelt
nardelli
January 5, 2007 - 17:32 ET by misterbillnardelli--just resigned from Home Depot--his package is worth $210million. Get out of here!! It's true!! Why didn't they give him $20mil and put the rest in the employees retirement fund????
nardelli's dough
January 5, 2007 - 17:37 ET by tumbler_2007Out of that $210 million the IRS will attach maybe 144 million in tax. Lowering the deficit at a faster clip than taking your 2 grand.
financial info from--
January 5, 2007 - 17:43 ET by misterbillfinancial info from--a 20 watt bulb. You must be insane to believe what you wrote.
That's assuming his tax rate
January 5, 2007 - 17:43 ET by Archibald CoxThat's assuming his tax rate is higher than Home Depot's corporate rate. If HD doesn't pay him $210m, that money is called profit - which is taxable. Of course it's anybody's guess as to who can find more loopholes.
Patriotism means to stand by the country. It does not mean to stand by the president or any other public official. - Theodore Roosevelt
there are no guarantees
January 5, 2007 - 17:47 ET by tumbler_2007He mot keep some fancy sum. After he fights the IRS for ten years in court, spending millions on lawyers. And layin awake sweatin every night for the final couple of years.
Armed robbery
January 5, 2007 - 20:44 ET by UnsaneThat is why I would rather everyone get hit at 17% across the board with NO exemptions, except maybe $500-1000 or so for children under 18. But you'd rather see a system where the government continues to steal from the successful. As it is now, the top 40% of wage earners pay 99.94% of ALL federal income taxes.
Instead of using the government as an agency to do for you what you lack the guts to do yourself (committing armed robbery), why not simply let them collect taxes and let the chips fall where freewill and initiative will let them?
"HAV3 TH3 BRIDG3S OF INSANITY B33N CROSS3D AND FOR3V3R R3TRACT3D???." - Meshuggah, "3ntrapm3nt", from Catch Thirty Thr33 (2005)
First of all, compensation fo
January 5, 2007 - 17:37 ET by Dave RFirst of all, compensation for a CEO is solely up to the stock holders and investors-the owners. It is not up to the government, or anyone else. People who think that lowering a CEO's compensation is somehow going to magically increase the wages of the other employees in that company are economic illiterates who should be seeking tuition refunds from their respective educational institutions. Corporations do not exist to provide jobs. They exist to make money for the owners.
If you are making only minimum wage, that is your fault, not the taxpayer's or the government's. And if you are making minimum wage, you have no business having children that you clearly cannot afford.
If Joe loading dock gets fired, he goes and gets another job.
Had Joe taken advantage of the educational opportunities available to him instead of driving that new Trans-Am so he could date the head cheerleader and spent the rest of his time partying with his friends, Joe wouldn't be working on the loading dock in the first place.
So it's out of the question t
January 5, 2007 - 17:50 ET by Archibald CoxSo it's out of the question that a company could choose to pay its CEO less so that it can afford to pay everyone else more - and still make the same profit for its shareholders? Or that the CEO might even choose to do so himself? That's what we're really talking about here. Do you really believe that CEOs are worth the compensations they're getting these days? You don't see any inequity?
Patriotism means to stand by the country. It does not mean to stand by the president or any other public official. - Theodore Roosevelt
No, our comments are about th
January 5, 2007 - 18:19 ET by kathleenirishNo, our comments are about the hypocrisy of Geraldo and Barney Franks' absurd propaganda. I agree, CEOs make way too much in my opinion, and when they fail miserably, they should have the same result as any of us would. Bye, bye, and don't let the door hit your ass on the way out. It's up to the stockholders to decide how things should go, though, and not the likes of Barney Frank!
"He who has a thousand friends has not a friend to spare, and he who has one enemy will meet him everywhere" -Ali ibn-Abi-Talib, 4th Islamic Caliph
Well, Dave R seemed to be sug
January 5, 2007 - 18:53 ET by Archibald CoxWell, Dave R seemed to be suggesting that lowering a CEO's pay would have no effect on other wages within the company. I beg to differ. It's all about choices. Choosing to pay a CEO an obscene amount absolutely leaves you less money with which to pay everyone else, unless you want to cut further into your profits than you already are by paying the CEO that obscene amount of money. And I completely agree that making a profit is what it's all about. One more reason not to pay the CEO an obscene amount of money. A semi-obscene salary/bonus package will still get you a fine CEO, I'm sure.
As for calling Geraldo and Barney Frank hypocrites - why is that? Because they make decent money? (Well, Geraldo, at least - Frank, less so.) Since when does making good money mean you forfeit the right to have an opinion on matters like the minimum wage and CEO pay?
Patriotism means to stand by the country. It does not mean to stand by the president or any other public official. - Theodore Roosevelt
Groups who make too much:Prof
January 5, 2007 - 19:02 ET by MikeBGroups who make too much:
Professional athletes (some)
CEOs (some)
Hollywood stars (most)
Broadcast Media News Readers (nearly all)
I'd like to make two points about CEO compensation.
One, the stockholder's don't really have much say. Yes, in the proxy forms that the corporations send out, there is a "yes/no" selection for the CEO's compensation. I don't know how many people actually sit down and read the annual report and proxy statement they receive. They are almost as much fun to read as an insurance contract. So, many of the people I know just mark "yes" on the items the board recommends for, and "no" on the items the board recommends against.
Two, most corporate CEO's do not receive most of their compensation in the form of cash. They get stock options, on the theory that if they are paid in stock options, they will be more diligent in their work for the corporation in order to boost the value of the stock they receive, thereby boosting the value of the company for all the stock holders. A CEO like Lee Iacocca or Jack Welch who comes in and turns a failing company around is well worth their compensation. A CEO who comes in and runs the corporation into the ground, is not worth their compensation.
As for the rest of the above named groups, even if they are paid what a lot of people consider obscene amounts, that is the amount that the market says they are worth. If, for example, a player (or team of players) causes the price of tickets to a game to be more expensive than what most of the fans are willing to pay, then the team will not make a profit, and the players can either take a cut or the team will go under, and the players lose their jobs.
"A communist is someone who reads Marx. An anti-communist is someone who understands Marx." Ronald Reagan
That's true, for the most par
January 5, 2007 - 20:41 ET by Archibald CoxThat's true, for the most part (in fact, no pro baseball player, at least, ever takes a pay cut because they have guaranteed contracts and teams pretty much never go under - they just move elsewhere; but I agree with the gist of the argument - supply and demand, all that.) And it's all cyclical. This year, for instance, the MLB free agents are doing very well. But two years ago, the Red Sox put Manny Ramirez - and his $20 million/year contract - on waivers and had no takers; nobody wanted to pay him that much. CEO salaries, on the other hand, haven't seem to suffer from any kind of downward trend, even when the economy wasn't doing so hot.
But besides all that, your post doesn't address my point - that being that reducing a CEO's salary would indeed leave more money for salaries for everyone else in the company. No matter if you want to call it stock options or whatever - it's still money. And I think you're understating what many of these guys are getting in straight salary, bonuses and - worst of all - severance pay. It's a ton, by most any measure. And we're not talking household names like Jack Welch. (Everyone who knew who the CEO of Home Depot was before reading this string raise your hand.)
Patriotism means to stand by the country. It does not mean to stand by the president or any other public official. - Theodore Roosevelt
Okay, fine. So let's say yo
January 5, 2007 - 20:57 ET by UnsaneOkay, fine. So let's say you get to achieve your dream - you bust into a shareholder's meeting and level a 9mm at the head of the Hyper Evil CEO. You begin screaming at him that he is an evil rich leech and instead of the shareholders giving him a raise, he should turn it down, begin making minimum wage, and turn over that raise to the company. He says no. You begin to violently pistol whip and beat him senselessly; finally you step on his throat and DEMAND he follow your instructions. He gives in and turns down his raise, and even agrees to work for minumum wage for - let's say - two years. (Yes, I embellish a bit, but then, I can see you doing exactly this. Let's also assume the government fully backs and sponsors what you did to the Hyper Evil CEO, who, for your satisfaction, I will not address as a person.)
What makes you think that money won't go to capital spending and improvements? What makes you think it won't be invested elsewhere? You have no clue, because, I am willing to bet, you have never run a business.
Like it or not, a thing, to include labor, will only be worth what someone else is willing to pay for it. When I was first hired by a warehouse to work there well over a decade ago, my initial wage was $7.75 per hour. That exact same job now pays $11.65 an hour. Why is that? There's not much inflationary pressure around here, where the cost of living is low anyways. It pays more now because of increased competition for the pool of labor. Pure and simple. And, like it or not, there is a pool of labor for being a CEO, and guess what? It is GOING to pay more, because of the responsibilities involved and countless other issues that go along with being a CEO that simply does not go with being a janitor or a factory-floor sweeper.
"HAV3 TH3 BRIDG3S OF INSANITY B33N CROSS3D AND FOR3V3R R3TRACT3D???" - Meshuggah, "3ntrapm3nt", from Catch Thirty Thr33 (2005)
Sure, I see an inequity, but
January 6, 2007 - 17:32 ET by Dave RSure, I see an inequity, but the government has no business getting involved, as regulating wages in a private company is not a ligitimate role of government.
As to whether CEO's are worth what they are getting paid is, here again, up to the owners. In publicly held corporations, the owners are the stock holders, people like you and me, your grandmother, and the skycap that helps you with your luggage by the curb at the airport. They are the ones who have the final say.
Hypothetically speaking, say a company is loosing $500 mil a year. The company goes out and hires someone who says he can cut that loss in half within 1 year, and he wants $10 mil to do it. The owners agree and hire the guy, and the next year they only lose $250 mil. In my view, this person saved the company $250 mil.
If the owners feel a CEO isn't worth what they are making, then they can run him off and replace him with soeone else. Here in Atlanta, the CEO of Home Depot was shown the door earlier this week due to the fact the the owners (stockholders) felt the stock was performing poorly and the guy was being paid more than they thought was reasonable. I would much rather see it handeled in that fashion than getting the government involved.
Of course, the employees bleed