So you think you're rich?
It seems no matter how wealthy you become, there will always be someone who will have more than you. There are agencies who actually keep track of these things. Those of us who do a little technical scribe work are well down that totem pole, so I have a tendency to ignore monetary score sheets, they just depress me.
But what the heck, sometimes it's fun to see just how much you don't have, compared with those who roll in scrip riches.
There are those with 22-foot yachts who gaze longingly at those who have the 44 footer and those with the 44-foot yacht gaze at the guy who has seven mansions and a collection of high priced automobiles and perhaps a private jet or two. Ostentatiousness never gets old in those worlds. It eventually becomes a question of power, if not money, and then you have problems. I give you Conrad Black as example one and pretty well any Third-World dictator as example two and maybe Tiger Woods as example three. In fact I understand Mr. Woods may be feeling the pinch lately, and not necessarily because he's only won a half-million on the golf courses because the money he earns there is chump change compared with what he's supposedly earning in sponsorships and appearance fees. But it seems, interest in Tiger is waning quickly, he's lost half his assets and future earnings in the divorce proceedings and his corporate sponsors, sensing blood on the water, have departed, or signed him up for one more kick at recovery at about half the price. We therefore have a discount Tiger if anyone is interested.
Here in Canada, we're a little more modest, but don't think for a minute we claim non-monster chief executive officers or corporate nice guys who choose to live modestly. Nope, we have our giants of the industrial and corporate world, beginning with the likes of Frank Stronach the patriarch of the auto-parts industry who rolled out his own farewell financial package, much to the chagrin (or delight) of his board of directors, into tens of millions of dollars.
I learned last week that the average actual salary for CEOs in Canada is just under $940,000 per annum. Hold on now, that's just base pay. We still have to include those bonuses (not performance bonuses, just bonuses that are built in), share units and stock options plus any other circus pay. You now get an average of just over $6 million which represents a 13 per cent increase over last year.
Average bonuses are $1.6 million, up 21 per cent.
And we have some of those high flyers right here in Saskatchewan, or at least some of them their provincial business interests a visit once in awhile. We have guys like Bill Doyle of PotashCorp who is ranked No. 7 on the Canadian list of big money at $11.6 million followed by Mike Wilson of Agrium at No. 28; Pat Daniel over at Enbridge with the No. 36 slot and Mayo Schmidt of Viterra via Calgary and Regina at No. 59. He has to wade through life's slings and arrows of outrageous fortune with a mere $4.55 million per year.
So you take your two per cent wage hike and be happy ... OK? I know, I know, it doesn't seem fair, but somebody has to be the fat cat at the top. We can't all be there you know. We must fight inflation.
Take solace in the fact that those who are at the top, are probably working hard and thinking of a whole bunch of stuff, like how to stay there without having to look over their shoulders. A lot of them become victims and have to take severance packages that weigh in at a mere few million dollars, leaving them destitute and maybe having to scale down to 30 foot yachts in retirement.
So I say, let's not waste our jealous anger on these people. They also serve.
As for me ... well, I'm taking the money I've been saving for a new car and and blowing it on a movie ... with popcorn no less. See ya in the lobby.
