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The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 2, 2008

One For Thumb

I found the column "Don't Kill The Corporate Goat" that appeared in the Nov. 28 Trib interesting. I think Thomas Sowell missed the point. The amount of money a CEO takes out of his organization is not the point. The point is the CEO is like a captain of a ship. He is getting paid to ensure his ship is performing the task it is designed to do.

It may be true that the average corporate CEO may make about one-tenth of what Tiger Woods makes. It is also true that if Tiger Woods operated his organization with the same skill as the CEO's now begging for a handout, he would fold. However, that would only affect a small number of people.

Some of the CEOs are pointing their fingers at Congress as the source of their problems. This may be true to some extent, but they fail to realize that there are at least three fingers pointing back at themselves. As for their thumb, they can use it as a pacifier.

ABBY RIKLI

Lakeland

Taxpayers Have Rights

The major flaw in Thomas Sowell's comparison of high corporate executives' salaries and perks and the monies received by celebrities and athletes is that people like Oprah Winfrey aren't showing up with a tin cup begging for big loans from the taxpayer. If corporations want to practice pure capitalism, that is fine. Let them go bankrupt and take the unions down with them. If stockholders are happy paying management exorbitant amounts of money as long as the profits keep rolling in, that is their problem.

The main reason corporate fat cats are on the receiving end of class envy is because of their own hypocrisy. Unlike congressmen, for instance, we cannot vote out corporate management when they don't perform or they ask for too much pay. Only the owners of the company can do that.

As long as taxpayers are being asked to foot the bill, they have every right to attach conditions to the money they dish out.

LEONARD MARTINO

Tampa

Fight Fire With Fire
With the recent carnage in India, we once again find ourselves and our friends the target of extremists who have no fear of death. Their goal is to rid the world of all who do not follow their warped philosophy of what religion is about.

In America, there are those who say, "We will not reduce our morals to their level." That sounds quite ideological. Do we want to become like those who have no compunction murdering innocent men, women and especially children?

How do we reply? We don't turn the other cheek unless you want it to be blown away by an AK-47. It's time for America to realize that you must fight fire with fire.

RON DAKIN

Spring Hill

Same Old Song

Enough Black Friday stories already. Every year it's the same old, same old. I can't remember any year when merchants weren't crying crocodile tears over their impending demise as Black Friday approaches.

The few who will admit to actually making enough to keep the doors open, but just barely, lament that they've had to cut prices too deeply and too early. Yet there they are the following year singing the next verse of the same tired song.

If you operate a business that runs in the red for 90 percent of the year, then you need a new business plan. If you're selling boardwalk fries in Atlantic City during the summer, I understand the seasonal crunch, but for a year-round business not so much.

JOHN S.V. WEISS

Spring Hill

Shopping Frenzy

It is truly a sad day when you have to be afraid of shopping ("Wal-Mart Shoppers Trample Man To Death," Nov. 29). Is our financial crisis at the bottom of this, or is it just the decline of humankind? At least at sporting events you have alcohol as a flimsy excuse.

Every year there is a story of the same thing on the same day, all for saving a bit of money on some material possession. The worst part is all the outrage when they were told the store was closing "because of the death." I guess they should have just put some cones around him and let the shoppers have their day.

JAMES JONES

Tampa

They Took, Not Gave

I thought waiting outside a store for 12 hours to snag the most expensive - I mean "best" - Christmas present was distasteful, but I was disgusted to hear of a Wal-Mart employee trampled to death by holiday shoppers.

I'm sure most of the crowd responsible would tell you Christmas is about giving and selflessness. I saw the opposite. In the heat of their "giving" spirit, this deluge of shoppers took a man's life. Cherish those around you this season because one family will now have to suffer Christmas without a loved one.

MICHAEL COLTON

Odessa

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