Corporate executive accountability

It kills me that CEO’s can totally screw up their company and still get their golden parachute. Just yesterday I read an article about a Countrywide exec who’s getting a multi-million-dollar perk while the firm is chaos due to poor lending policies. I’m no Adam Smith scholar, but I think he’d be turning over in his grave if he knew. From what I understand, Smith approved of the possibility of great reward for those who took great personal risk. The “Hey, screw us over and we’ll still give you a bonus,” policies upheld by corporate boards remove that element of risk and encourage power players to mismanage their respective institutions.

Quick aside: Even pirate captains normally only took a double share of the loot. Granted, the men and women at the top of huge corporations know way more about business than I’ll ever learn. But still, I kinda’ doubt that–based on comparative salaries– the typical CEO is a million times more intelligent or productive than the front-line customer service operator taking flak from dissatisfied clients all day.