Economy still picking up steam, but then so should....
from 
JoeUser Forums
JoeUser Forums
First, I'm sure the Bush bashers will accuse me of again being nothing more than pom-pom waving, kool-aid drinkin' Bushie. Well, phhhhhtttt on them!
What gives the idea that the economy is picking up more steam, and further, why do I say "but then so should...."
First things first here. On the economic front, I would say plenty of anecdotal things are telling me the economy is getting better. A co-worker recently was stolen away by a different company to do the same basic job in a different part of a bigger location. Though the original offer didn't include an equivalent level of benefits, the co-worker got an increase to the initial offer that raised the benefits to be the same, and then was left looking at a sizable increase in pay. Given the cirmstances, we're having a good bye party for the co-worker very soon.
Second, recent trips out to grocery stores, fast food places, hardware stores and other places has me seeing lots of help wanted signs. I don't mean just here and there. I mean darn near every business I could enter has a sign up advertising help wanted. Yes, many of the jobs are probably low wage starting positions, but the positions are out there. The last time I saw this many help wanted signs at the end of the summer was during the 90's, when jobs were plentiful thanks to the Y2K fears and the dot.com boom.
I can't personally speak about the help wanted advertisements in the news papers, or the job listings at say Monster.com My soon to be former co-worker did say that the e-mails they got listing possible jobs were plentiful, which tells me that things do seemed to have picked up steam.
Finally, there's articles like the one I am gonna clip below, which circles back around to that "but then so should...." part of the article title.
In this case, I would say perhaps some shareholders should be picking up some steam, as in getting steamed over the largess that their compensation commitee is doling out to their CEO. One that almost ran his company into the ground just a few years ago, thanks to accounting "issues" and other problems. Now apparently things are good enough that, as the article below notes, Mr. CEO is able to collect a big fat bonus and a sizable raise. The big fat bonus being a MID-YEAR bonus.
Anyway, read on and enjoy. Comments, as always welcome. Article below is linked (click on Headline). From The Washington Post.
Quirky MicroStrategy Springs Another Surprise
By Jerry Knight
Monday, August 22, 2005; Page D01
MicroStrategy Inc. has produced such solid profits and strong stock performance recently that it was almost possible to believe the company had put its past behind it and matured into what it was always meant to be -- a nice second-tier software maker.
Almost.
Then MicroStrategy did one of those things that leave Washington investors scratching their heads:
According to a filing last week with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the company gave founder, chairman and chief executive Michael J. Saylor a $25,000 raise to $400,000 a year and then wrote Saylor a check for $800,000 as a midyear bonus .
Since when is success determined by the halftime score?
It's not uncommon for salespeople to be compensated based on their performance over periods of less than a year, but only a handful of companies report awarding midyear bonuses to top executives, according to Factiva, the online data service of Dow Jones & Co.
"Bonuses based on less than a full year's performance are an utter joke," said Graef S. Crystal, an executive compensation guru. "They allow an executive to cash in on the good parts of the year, but he is never forced to take a negative bonus for the bad parts of the year."
MicroStrategy officials declined to comment on the record, except to point out that the bonus was granted by the company's compensation committee, composed entirely of outside directors.
Saylor's surprise bonus is the latest evidence that while MicroStrategy has put its conspicuous problems behind it, it will never be a plain-vanilla investment. And Saylor, who in his younger days was given to grand pronouncements that his company's software would be "ubiquitous" and create an information revolution, will never be just another CEO.
... more at linked article
What gives the idea that the economy is picking up more steam, and further, why do I say "but then so should...."
First things first here. On the economic front, I would say plenty of anecdotal things are telling me the economy is getting better. A co-worker recently was stolen away by a different company to do the same basic job in a different part of a bigger location. Though the original offer didn't include an equivalent level of benefits, the co-worker got an increase to the initial offer that raised the benefits to be the same, and then was left looking at a sizable increase in pay. Given the cirmstances, we're having a good bye party for the co-worker very soon.
Second, recent trips out to grocery stores, fast food places, hardware stores and other places has me seeing lots of help wanted signs. I don't mean just here and there. I mean darn near every business I could enter has a sign up advertising help wanted. Yes, many of the jobs are probably low wage starting positions, but the positions are out there. The last time I saw this many help wanted signs at the end of the summer was during the 90's, when jobs were plentiful thanks to the Y2K fears and the dot.com boom.
I can't personally speak about the help wanted advertisements in the news papers, or the job listings at say Monster.com My soon to be former co-worker did say that the e-mails they got listing possible jobs were plentiful, which tells me that things do seemed to have picked up steam.
Finally, there's articles like the one I am gonna clip below, which circles back around to that "but then so should...." part of the article title.
In this case, I would say perhaps some shareholders should be picking up some steam, as in getting steamed over the largess that their compensation commitee is doling out to their CEO. One that almost ran his company into the ground just a few years ago, thanks to accounting "issues" and other problems. Now apparently things are good enough that, as the article below notes, Mr. CEO is able to collect a big fat bonus and a sizable raise. The big fat bonus being a MID-YEAR bonus.
Anyway, read on and enjoy. Comments, as always welcome. Article below is linked (click on Headline). From The Washington Post.
Quirky MicroStrategy Springs Another Surprise
By Jerry Knight
Monday, August 22, 2005; Page D01
MicroStrategy Inc. has produced such solid profits and strong stock performance recently that it was almost possible to believe the company had put its past behind it and matured into what it was always meant to be -- a nice second-tier software maker.
Almost.
Then MicroStrategy did one of those things that leave Washington investors scratching their heads:
According to a filing last week with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the company gave founder, chairman and chief executive Michael J. Saylor a $25,000 raise to $400,000 a year and then wrote Saylor a check for $800,000 as a midyear bonus .
Since when is success determined by the halftime score?
It's not uncommon for salespeople to be compensated based on their performance over periods of less than a year, but only a handful of companies report awarding midyear bonuses to top executives, according to Factiva, the online data service of Dow Jones & Co.
"Bonuses based on less than a full year's performance are an utter joke," said Graef S. Crystal, an executive compensation guru. "They allow an executive to cash in on the good parts of the year, but he is never forced to take a negative bonus for the bad parts of the year."
MicroStrategy officials declined to comment on the record, except to point out that the bonus was granted by the company's compensation committee, composed entirely of outside directors.
Saylor's surprise bonus is the latest evidence that while MicroStrategy has put its conspicuous problems behind it, it will never be a plain-vanilla investment. And Saylor, who in his younger days was given to grand pronouncements that his company's software would be "ubiquitous" and create an information revolution, will never be just another CEO.
... more at linked article