(via NY Times)
Update -
The Health Care Blog: “Whether or not it was illegal, his actions suggest staggering greed.”
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{ 5 comments }
Greed is a funny word.
McGuire’s problem is that it looks like he DID break the law by backdating the stock options.
But what if he hadn’t? What if he had earned all that money legally?
Many people would look at his enormous income and automatically associate that with “greed.” CEOs are catching a lot of flack these days about their pay packages, which seem absolutely ginormous to the layman earning modest pay.
To many average people, no amount of work is worth that kind of money, and whoever is rich must be “greedy,” or getting their money “the evil way.”
I argue that rich CEOs are no greedier than the rest of us. They just have skills and qualities that are highly-sought-after by the market, and the market is US. If we want to blame someone for their high pay, let us blame ourselves for subscribing to the laws of supply and demand.
“I argue that rich CEOs are no greedier than the rest of us. They just have skills and qualities that are highly-sought-after by the market, and the market is US. If we want to blame someone for their high pay, let us blame ourselves for subscribing to the laws of supply and demand.”
No, I disagree. We all argue here that the malpractice system is wrong (except for those with a financial interest in it) yet, because of the influence of the rich and powerful (read lawyer politicians) we can’t do anything to stop human pieces of shit like John Edwards, “Greedy Trial Lawyer” CJD. They aren’t “highly sought after, they’re criminal, and they create and sustain a market for themselves by owning politicians and preventing needed changes in the law.
A Board of Directors no doubt approved the compensation package. Remember that UHC is a private company and the goal is profit maximization. CEO’s are to be aligned and incentivized. UHC’s gain is your loss. Some MD’s may choose to own UHC stock to hedge against shrinking reimbursement.
The malpractice system is wrong? It is the actual malpractice that goes unpunished with provider protection at the hands of the cronies on the various state medical boards that is wrong as well as the patently unscientific manner of “clinical causation analysis.” With the latter, at least, the clinicians are subject to the same sodomy that they have been heaping onto the general populace since the days of English Common Law.
“We all argue here that the malpractice system is wrong (except for those with a financial interest in it)”
Uhh, physicians are involved in this debate because of their financial interest. Think about it.
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