Executive pay

From an investor advisory newsletter, don’t ask me which one: “In fact, American executives could learn a thing or two from some of their counterparts abroad. Just look at Haruka Nishimatsu, CEO of Japan Airlines Corp. for example. Each morning, Nishimatsu gets down to business immediately after his morning commute to the office – on a city bus. His desk – like those of all the other Japan Airlines employees – sits in the middle of an open office. I know this from personal experience, having sat at a desk just like that when I’ve worked in Japan over the years. He eats lunch in the company cafeteria and hopes – like all Japanese employees – that he’ll have time to eat his meal before it gets cold as he stands in line waiting to pay. This hardly sounds like the life of a corporate CEO, especially when you consider that JAL is one of the world’s top airlines. Nor does the fact that when JAL cut back and asked many of its employees to take early retirement, Nishimatsu first eliminated every one of his own corporate perks, including his own pay – which, at a mere $90,000 (U.S.), is below what JAL’s pilots get paid.” There’s something to be said for modesty and reality checks. Even the woman at left knows this. I have no clue who she is but she appears to be working hard.

Starving Artists

From an article about executive pay: “Many musicians approve of high executive salaries – if, that is, the orchestra is doing well. But when it is not, frustration arises, as it also does over inequities in players' pay scale. The base pay of a New York Philharmonic musician is now $103,000. According to 2003 tax records, Glenn Dicterow, the New York Philharmonic concertmaster, was making $366,000 (this does not include income from engagements outside his orchestra schedule.) The have-nots in this scheme are primarily section string players, who have to pay for instruments costing significantly more than woodwinds or brasses – often in five or six figures. And in the case of brand-name soloists, the disparity is even more enormous. The violinist Itzhak Perlman and the cellist Yo-Yo Ma, two of the most reliable box-office draws in the field, are reliably said to make from $65,000 to $70,000 per night. That is as much as full-time players at orchestras like the Dallas Symphony, the Atlanta Symphony and the St. Louis Symphony make in a year.” This, of course, is peanuts compared to the salaries and bonuses of some of the country's large corporations. I think the average salary among those ranks is about $14 million. The woman at left is not an orchestra player, but that is entirely irrelevant.