http://trofire.com/2016/02/16/your-daily-the-system-is-rigged-reminder-big-bank-ceos-getting-massive-raises-while-wages-stagnate/
"And what exactly do these financial Lords of the Universe do in exchange for such outsized paychecks? Not much, apparently – at least, not nearly as much as is expected from the rest of us. CEOs themselves like to boast that their excessive compensation is well-deserved because they “work” to improve the performance of their companies. However, research indicates that there is virtually no connection between CEO pay and company performance. In fact, many of America’s largest corporations rig the system by exaggerating reported profits and setting growth projections at ridiculously low levels. According to Columbia University law professor Robert Jackson, Jr., corporate directors are “deliberately setting performance targets low so the management doesn’t have to meet market expectations in order to get paid.” Not only does this gaming of the system put tens of millions of dollars into the pockets of overpaid CEOs who really do little more than spend mornings on the phone and afternoons on the back nine with fellow executives, it robs the U.S. Treasury – and by extension, we, the taxpayers of this country – of billions of dollars every year. Part of the problem is the tax code itself, which has long been rigged to favor the wealthy and corporations. Attorney Michael Donan, who served in the Treasury Department’s Office of Tax Policy under Clinton and Bush, points out that IRS rules are ambiguous. They allow a corporation to make its own definition of what constitutes performance, “more or less as it chooses.” Essentially, obscene CEO compensation constitutes a major corporate tax write-off. Donan says, “Officers can receive payments that satisfy the exemption even if the stock price is falling, revenues are falling and earnings are falling. Failure can be treated as success for purposes of the exemption"."
