Diary: the Death of Democracy by the Paycheck

Recently, after Home Depot stuck has plummeted over 40%, the CEO of Home Depot, Robert L. Nardelli was let go and given a severance package of $200 million. Completely understandable is the outcry that this has generated considering the man didn't do anything to help the company and thus it looks as if he is getting rewarded for a bad job. In fact, the severance package is actually more than what he earned in the total time he was working as CEO. But while the incredulous cries are indeed warranted, what is curious is what people are actually upset about.

"We're aghast at the level of compensation that Nardelli is walking away with. This is money directly out of shareholders pockets."
- RICHARD FERLAUTO, director of pension investment policy for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees

That's right. Not only was Mr. Nardelli earning millions per year and, after flopping as a CEO he gets $200 million more, while the average worker at Home Depot makes around $30,000 a year (which is probably an overstatement). And what is the outrage at such blatant corporate snobbery and self-aggrandizement? Ah yes, the loss to the shareholders, themselves multi-millionaires.

I'm not quite certain just what words are needed to express such blatantly abusive displays of power which highlight the ever growing disparity between the working class and the upper 1%. I'd start using expletives but the number needed to express the utter disgust this generates would take up pages and pages. So instead I'll just sigh, shake my head, and laugh cynically, trying not to cry at what is truly a major nail in the coffin of true democracy.

What's that you say? Yes, the death of democracy. Our founding fathers, it is true, pointed out that only an informed and critical populace will keep democracy alive and active. And while this is undoubtedly accurate and something the lack of which I harp on quite continuously, in order for a people to study and ask questions they must first believe they have the power to do so. When it often takes two parents working full-time jobs to raise even a single child and when the average worker earns only $1 for every $256 dollars that a CEO gives himself, there is little surprise when it is noted the average worker spends little time thinking about his nation and more about how he or she is going to pay the bills. Thus, they will grasp at any olive-branch that is thrown to them even if in the past nothing was actually ever done about it, i.e. the Republicans saying they care about "middle-America."

You see, it is far easier to understand intuitively the so-called Reagon-economics in which it is declared that as the rich get richer they invest and so the money "trickles down" to the masses. I say intuitively because the average citizen gives far more, in ratio to their earnings, than the average CEO and thus it is easy for the citizen to say "but of course I'd be helping out my workers as I get richer." But see, this isn't what actually happens. In fact, economists have long known that if the gov.'t wants money to be invested in the economy through purchasing and so on, it is best to give more money back to the poor and middle-class because the rich don't spend as much of their money, instead they invest it so they can earn MORE money. But to understand this takes time and a willingness to study basic economics and sociology and quite frankly, when the average person is working 40-60 hours a week and trying his or her damndest to get something out of life more than carpal-tunnel, economic and social theory get pushed aside.

Of course, that is the point. An ignorant and over-worked populace doesn't rise up to demand change and I doubt if most will even bat an eye at the statement shown above that seems to convey the point that the only people hurt by the severance package were shareholders and not the workers.

Perhaps with the new congress, some things might change. But I doubt it. Politicians only barely do what their constituents want and when the utterly disgusting disparity between the rich and the rest of us isn't being even whispered about by the populace, there isn't much incentive to change a system that, quite frankly, helps the politicians anyway.