Economy Blog

There’s an outrageous article in Crain’s today about executive perks. Apparently senior management at some banks get to fly on the corporate jet. Others have their country club tabs picked up by the company. A few—VERNON JORDAN, LAZARD LTD, SHAME HIM IN THE STREETS—even get their apartments paid for, at up to $24,000 a month. Crazy, isn’t it? No, it’s not crazy. What’s crazy is that everyone—author, shareholder activists, Tim Robbins and Susan Sarandon– still fails to get it. If I agree to run one of these things, I want to plied with gifts at every turn. This job is really hard and I’m very sensitive and the suggestion that I’m not worth tons of freebies plays on the deep insecurity I attempt to mask with a self-righteous attitude and shameless bravado. That makes me unhappy and you know what happens when I’m not happy—I destroy billions in shareholder capital (I might do that anyway, but without the gifts the threat is more imminent).
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