Perhaps I'm not wired properly. Yes, that's probably been evident to most of you for quite some time, but something yesterday just made me shake my head. It's not much to do with sports, so ride this one out … please.
This week the Journal Register Co. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. It interested me because the Journal Register Co. is a newspaper company that owns papers in suburban Cleveland, near Willoughby and Lorain. I fervently hope that none of the folks who work there lose jobs because of this.
But it's worrying.
Especially because the end of a story from philly.com on this filing included this tidbit of information:
"Under a proposal filed as part of the bankruptcy case, the company has asked for permission to pay as much as $1.7 million in bonuses to 30 top officers and key employees, should the Journal Register meet certain reorganization goals, including closing more papers and eliminating more employees. Those officers have already been paid $450,000 for a previous round of cuts, according to court papers."
I don't get it. I just don't get it. We reward folks with bonuses for eliminating jobs. This has to be symbolic if the warped, messed-up thinking in this nation that has led to this economic mess. While the higher-ups get their bonuses and protect their Merdedez and boat, the people who work every day to help make the company what it is lose their jobs. And we reward these people?
These bonuses average out to $56,000 per person, so it's not like the outrageous money going to the Wall Street idiots who have cost us our 401-Ks, but it is warped. That $56,000 could take care of one employee for a year. I mean, is it so outrageous to expect the company to use that $1.7 million to … well … keep the company afloat. To keep jobs. To help families keep their kids fed. To help them keep their health care. Instead of using this money as incentive to eliminate jobs, why not use to … well … EMPLOY people.
This seems mind-boggling, and quite frankly to me it's nearly immoral.
I'm stupid, but I'm not stupid enough to think this is the first time this ever happened. But rewarding people for eliminating jobs has to be the Gordon Geckoest, Gordon-Gecko-greed-is-good policy our businesses have. How can these people look themselves in the mirror?
I wonder how long the average folks in this country will put up with this garbage. Is it any wonder people are disgusted with the way the country and its businesses are run. I hope every one of these idiots who takes a dollar for eliminating someone's job winds up eating soggy Cheerios every morning the rest of their life.
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I'm with you, Pat. This has come up in other articles regarding the auto industries and it is incomprehensible that the government should be promoting these actions. I don't know that much about macro-economics, but I refuse to believe that the problems in the economy are a result of too many jobs!
you don't have to go to a foreign country to find enemies of america. they are often running our corporations and either voted in or appointed to positions in our government.
You know Pat. I here what your saying and I agree with what you are saying. When I brought up that companies were spending three million on thirty second spots in the Super Bowl and laying thousands off. You told me you only report on sports and two wrongs don't make a right.
You were so fired-up writing this piece you repeatedly forgot to add question marks where appropriate. (That's not criticism.) Truly outrageous behavior, reprehensible—that which you wrote about. As the oldsters used to ask: "What's this world coming to?"
I can't stand to see this type of behavior any longer by corporate America- it is so evident that those who make the rules in business take care of their own first, and drop the bombs on the workers. It is just pure greed (one of the seven deadly sins) that has crested this woeful economic state we are in, and it may get worse. I predict mass uprisings by the (former) middle class. They will be come so fed up and forced to lose evrything, while the wealthy, rich and powerful keep on behaving as they have. It wil come down to riots in our streets soon enough.
Supermodel Adriana Lima Elopes!
http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20261007,00.html
Noooooooooooo!!!!!!
what I'm shocked about is in America we are told we are free to run our companies any way we want… morally or not.
I don't think it is right, but people should be free to run their companies any way they want.
now the real issue is, the government should let the companies fail that can't sustain their business. if it's chapter 11 so be it, but they better not recieve any bailout cash.
This kind of action has been going on for decades. stop acting like a bunch of socialistic facists who want to tell private industies how to run their businesses. once you start, the next thing you know, we've lost all say in the private sector.
No one is disputing the company's right to spend their money the way they want. It's like free speech… I'll defend your right to express your opinion, but I don't have to like it. And if I don't like it, then I'll defend journalists like Pat and Peter King when they shine a light on it. Maybe we can keep the cockroaches at bay.
People will speak up about these sort of instances more often when it becomes more acceptable to protest again.
There is a stigma against protests in this country these days due to the image in many peoples minds of pot smoking long haired liberals doing it, and them not getting it done.
So now the average person believes that protests not only get nothing accomplished, but they embarrass you, AND give you the label of being a 'hippie'.
Hopefully, sooner rather than later, the nation will wake up and not let ridiculous preconceived notions regarding protests get in the way of the people trying to make change.
I agree with you 100%. No one should be rewarded because they lopped off the livelihoods of hundreds of families. That causes a predetermined outcome and they don't even think of other solutions that might have a better outcome for both the company and the families involved.
Numerous important points must be made here:
1) Adriana Lima's chest appears to have been recently "enhanced."
2) Not only is Marko Jarić a legendary NBA stiff, but check out those beady little eyes. Aren't they too close together in his head, too? Weird.
3) I've said it before and I'll say it again: Adriana Lima is extremely homely without her six hours of makeup and hair work.
4) Does this mean Bob Finnan will have to be a homer for the team he covers from another journalistic venue? The Plain Dealer will be taking over the Beacon Journal within three years, so where does this all leave Big Bob? It doesn't look good for Bob's future. Come to think of it, it doesn't look so rosy for Pat, either. But Pat already knows that. Hell, it doesn't look so rosy for anybody in the newspaper field.
5) Pat, nothing is preventing you from sending the exact same blog entry to the New York judge. The ball is in his court. He won't read it, but couldn't hurt. Won't help, but couldn't hurt.
6) The people writing on this blog could not be more wrong. It is NOT this "company's right to spend their money they want." It is not like Dan Gilbert keeping his O'Neal, Camby and Chandler money and all of next season's luxury tax in his pockets, and then five minutes later, deciding it's OK to remodel his suburban Detroit downstairs bathroom. The company that owns these two local papers is a *PUBLICLY-OWNED* company that owns 20 daily and 159 non-daily newspapers, not merely the two local papers. It is the SHAREHOLDERS' company. A company soon to be owned by its lenders, and the shareholders completely screwed and holding worthless stock. Not to mention the creditors owed money by the company.
The entire scenario stinks, and the part about giving away bonuses on a sinking ship particularly reeks. But the fact is, this judge can tell them, "NO, that money goes to the creditors." Needless to say, this judge won't. Par for the course, it's always been this way, that is why the lawyers put it into the plan proposal, and absent the passing of federal legislation expressly barring this kind of sh*t, it will never end. Never.
First off… you are not stupid.. you are sane, have ethics and you know a thief when you see one.. You got it so right!!!
Bless you, my son!!!
As harsh as it sounds, a business — whether it sells newspapers, cars, bearings, tires or savings accounts, does not exist to provide jobs for its employees.
Companies exist to provide returns for their owners — whether that is shareholders, private equity investors or simply your mom and pop. They choose to do this by selling things for more than it costs to produce them.
When that formula no longer works they have to make changes to protect the value of the business for the owners. Unfortunately this often means bad things for the employees of the business and those who sell supplies to the business.
If you can't find a formula that works, bankruptcy follows and everyone loses, the employees, the suppliers, the debt holders and the owners.
Your altruistic post was admiral Pat,but Keith has it right.
Oh, come on. Pat's no dummy, obviously "Keith has it right." The creeps who run the Browns, in a roundabout way, did basically the same thing.
This is not about business, nor is Pat's post about "business." This is about what is right and what is wrong. This is about business ethics, a contradiction in terms of monumental proportions. That one ranks right up there with "jumbo shrimp." This is about the upper echelon of corporate food chains and their weasel lawyers conducting business as usual. This same kind of thing has happened for decades and decades on end, but during a recession, it just happens more frequently. That's all that's "business" about it.
So all you young people, recession or not, the best of times or the worst of times, remember this the next time your company has their annual picnic and proclaims how wonderful they are and they really, really care about you. They're lying.
as johnny cougar once said:
"hey, calling it your job old hoss, sure don't make it right. but if you want me to i'll say a prayer for your soul tonight."
Did Pat ghostwrite Roger Ebert's movie review? Or did Roger Ebert ghostwrite Pat's post? You decide. By the way, this was a nice little movie.
http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081002/REVIEWS/810020303
Don't worry, I won't spend another cent on the Journal with those money grubbing scum running it. I will not patronize companies like this. Let your money talk people!
I don't get that last post in the least … what logical point does it serve by putting more workers out of work than there already are? Why do you think the parent company has filed for Chapter 11 in the first place? Because nobody is buying a newspaper, newspaper circulation sucks, and advertisers don't want to spend money to advertise somewhere where their ad will never be seen.
If people truly want to save Bob Finnan's job, let alone the jobs of newspaper employees from coast to coast, then people should be patronizing newspapers like crazy instead of reading the news online. If Osama bin Laden had a heart, he'd destroy the Internet.
To collect their bonus, they should have to report to Perk Park in Cleveland at 2:30AM on a Saturday night.
Where Keith's ideas break down is that management is rewarded based on STOCK performance, which is subject to the vagaries of the market and not a good indication of long-term health. And nowadays, these moneyslut CEO's are getting bonuses even when their stock & company tanks! The problem is that they load up the boards with their buddy CEO's and scratch each others backs. The shareholders do not get a say. It is a kleptocracy.
Maybe the only solution is to break some of these companies up, the way TR did in the early 1900's.
Amen, brother. Keep in mind that the Gov. of Louisiana said in last night's rebuttal/response to the President's speech that the Republicans want to put the economisc recovery in the hands of private business and you and I. Hmmm…isn't it the private business muckety-mucks that got the banks and auto industry into the mess that we are in? Yeah, this is what happens when greed and capitalism unchecked go on for eight years without public oversight.
Also, didn't the gov come off like a bad TV preacher?
You're not wrong. In fact, I think the next step is to completely eliminate bonuses all around, at all levels, for a time. I would love to see an addition to the cabinet or the SEC: Business Ethics Secretary.
Terje's initial comment was right on the money.
Frankly, those papers underachieve in our area. I live in Avon Lake, so the Morning Journal is one of my options. It's been a half-baked product for a while, in as far as the quality, etc. But some of their strongest areas have been the sports sections: good, solid coverage of not only the pro teams, but OSU and especially the high schools.
I guess those bonuses are to cover the emotional damage from the guilt to cutting those jobs, huh?
Eyeshade: Jindal is the Republican's version of Obama.
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