Non Sequitur by Wiley Miller for November 16, 2010

‘Damn’ the consequences, full speed ahead.

Corporate Financial Strategy 101.

Is this a game of chance? Not the way I play it.

That’s real Executive Focus, laser-sharp! That’s what earns you your seven- or eight-figure bonus!

@Sisyphos: you actually scared me there. This is not fiction or comedy, is it? It’s a documentary in the great style of classic greek tragedies. What a world we live in…

here we go again…

It’s the American way, set up a system that leads to an eventuality, encourage it then vilify it.

French Revolution, anyone? Not yet? Give it a mo. With the Republicans in change, this is inevitable.

Let’s just make sure we can get rid of more regulators to complete our evil machinations.

French Revolution, anyone?

past due.

That’s Paulson on the right and Geithner on the left. Bernanke’s in the middle.

If the poor were rich, they would be doing the same thing, it’s human nature.

So to keep people moral we have to keep them poor. How’s that working in your neighborhood?

@wndrwrthg - shouldn’t that be “tarp-edoes” instead of consequences?

@pdchapin - It’s not that poor people don’t behave like crooks because they’re moral. Rather, poor people don’t act that way because they don’t have the ability. As Submachine said, it’s human nature. Some people are honest, some people are crooks. If you’re rich and crooked, you have more scope to hurt people than if your poor and crooked.

^ Yeah, if a poor person takes someone else’s money, it’s called theft and he goes to jail. If a CEO takes someone else’s money, it’s called a “Performance Bonus”.

And, of course, bonuses are only obscene when someone else is getting them.

this strip is one of Wiley’s best ever.

well said Destiny23

Ah, the Fed… how sad but true. It’s a real shame there is no oversight of a dept. that has control of our money.

Simple common sense and logic would dictate that no corportate entity has the ability to crash the market. And while this comic is in the guise of a corporation, the reality is the Fed has already decided to do this by printing hudreds of billions of dollars to buy its own bonds (with more still yet to come) in order to devalue the dollar (not equal to the Canadian dollar… really? pitiful) so that it is easier to pay off its debts.

However, those countries which hold our debts aren’t very happy and we are inches from seeing the dollar disapear from being the world’s choice currency. That means the end of the American economy as we know it. Whether massive deflation or super inflation, the result is catestrophic.

And for the fool(s) who think the French Revolution is overdue in America… I have nothing of kindness to say to you. Either you are horribly evil, morbid, villianous people or you are clueless about the actions taken in the French Revolution including massive murders of the citizenry from beheadings to burnings and more. Only the sick of mind and heart would want that to occur here.

Maybe you’d reason that the ends justify the means… well, Marx, no it doesn’t. I imagine if the shoe were on the other foot, you would not want to be the ones being masacred nor your families. Do unto others as you would have them do unto yourself… wisdom comes from the strangest places.

Maybe you’d reason that the transition to socialism could involve another means that does not include violence. Well, that too would be contrary to the desires and promotion of such actions by many of the Socialist and Communist entities which desire such a revolution (including the Communist Party USA and George Soros).

Wiley - your comment about obscene bonuses is right on the money! (Ahem.)

In the late ’90s, Caldor’s was a regional department store chain here in New England. Target was trying to move into the area, and Caldor’s was having financial problems, so Target offered to buy them out and take over the stores.

Caldor’s CEO had a choice:

If he sold the company and saved the stores, he wouldn’t have gotten his multi-million dollar golden parachute.

If he put the company out of business, he would get the money. (That’s right, a reward for failure.)

Guess which he choose?

Caldor’s folded, the CEO pocketed millions, and the former workers had to go to court to get promised compensation, because - surprise - there was no money left in Caldor’s accounts.

That’s my definition of an obscene bonus.

brilliant – today’s corporate business model in four panels

that is no JESTER (see Sunday)…

The only ill wind is one that doesn’t blow profits their way, and someone else can rake the leavings.

Wiley’s stated interpretation of “obscene bonus” is based on the idea that there is never a good reason to downsize, as if changing technology, overseas competition, declining markets, etc., are not a regular part of a modern economy. And even a company that struggles for existence and is failing (like my employer of 33 years) still needs to be run by talented people who deserve the money the get paid.

But the real basis for today’s cartoon is Wiley’s prejudice against the business world, revealed in almost all his business cartoons though always denied by him. (“It’s just a joke”.)

As for Nightshade’s story about Caldor, Wikipedia shows a different story, of a company that just couldn’t compete with Walmart and other discount stores. When they realized there was no way the company could be saved, there was nothing to do but shut it down. It is creditors, boards of directors, and stockholders who make decisions like that, not a CEO (unless he’s a majority owner).

pschearer, I recommend reading Perfectly Legal by David Cay Johnston.

It’s a common practice to lavish tax benefits on the giant corporations that then make it unfeasible for the smaller, local companies to survive.

The mergers & acquisitions game is largely about buying a company with an income stream, running up the companiy’s debt load as high as possible and taking fees and payouts, then ‘streamlining’ the company by cutting as many jobs as possible. In the slightest downturn, the company will collapse under the weight of the debt.

Sounds like a great plan if they want to get fired. Worn humor and it doesn’t work. Take an economics class, Wiley.

Most corporate executives are paid in shares that take time to vest. This means that if they drive their company into the ground in the short term - they gain nothing. If they succeed, they get bonuses and shares that are worth something. That’s capitalism.

Socialism means they get to work extra hard and get the paid the same as everyone else. So why put in any extra effort? It is a failed model.

lsherris said, about 9 committee meetings ago

That’s Paulson on the right and Geithner on the left. Bernanke’s in the middle.

Not really: the text makes it clear this is not a government meeting–who in the government cares a fig about profits?–but a corporate meeting.

Vhammon: I’ll promise to read “Perfectly Legal” after you read “The Wealth of Nations” by Adam Smith, “The Capitalist Manifesto” by Andrew Bernstein, and “Capitalism, the Unknown Ideal” by Ayn Rand.

sleeping3, that may be capitalism, but it isn’t real life…

The US is a Capitalist country with some socialist programs to look after the downtrodden and disadvantaged. When people like Wiley suggest that maybe there should be a bit more care taken for the wider populace and controls on those who would like to use and abuse the less powerful there are rabid knee jerk reactions decrying the evils of Communism and Socialism and pointing to the former USSR as an example of what Wiley is asking for. NO ONE is suggesting a revolution to overthrow capitalism and institute complete socialist rule… but surely a better balance can be struck than the current situation? And sleepeeg3: Look at Geoff Dixon who worked for 9 months (with very poor results) and walked away with nearly $12 million?!? Was he paid in shares as you suggest? Not a chance.

pdchapin said, “So to keep people moral we have to keep them poor. How’s that working in your neighborhood?”

The healthiest societies, by all standards, are those with the smallest gap between the rich and poor. Our own country had its healthiest economy when the gap was dramatically smaller.

Regarding comments about the French Revolution: I do not hear people saying it is desirable - only that we are on a trajectory for something similar. It was a violent reaction to long years of extreme abuse of the many poor by the few rich.

For an interesting treatment of the gap, read Mark Twain’s “A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court.”

LOL–Love this one! (Thanks, Wiley!)

i love my investmens. rock on

investments. duh. sorry.