The pay of others fascinates, aggravates, incites envy and provokes quiet and not-so-quiet conversation.
For most people, it?s a private matter. For others, their pay makes headlines.
Rapper 50 Cent pulls down $79 million; pitcher Roger Clemens, $18 million; slugger Alex Rodriguez, $25.7 million; and quarterback Michael Vick, $37.5 million. But for all it is based on what the market says they?re worth. That means no guarantees. If people stop buying tickets to rap shows or to baseball or football games, salaries will go down.
Mayo Shattuck, the CEO of Constellation Energy, the only Fortune 500 company left in a state where the biggest employers are government and nonprofits, earned $1 million as a base and a $3 million bonus in 2005.
Shattuck?s success with Constellation would command similar pay and bonus at other companies seeking to buy what he can do. His thousands of employees and their families and shareholders, personal and institutional and Constellation pensioners, count on him to do what he does well. So do those of us who count on flipping on a switch for light and staying warm or cool in season. And, if he pulls off the merger with FPL Group, he?ll be rewarded handsomely, not unlike a film star after an Academy Award, or A-Rod following a World Series win.
If Shattuck fails, his board will go to the market and buy the services of another, just as a film producer or MLB team owner would.
Fair?
It is if you believe in the business model that makes the wonderfully free United States the powerful economic engine and magnet for and producer of top talent throughout the world.
We do.
