May 30th / June 1st, 2008
"Robert Morse is My New Hero"
Robert Morse’s face will never grace Mt. Rushmore, nor will a statue of him
likely be erected in the Halls of Congress. Yet his populist crusade
merits our attention, respect, and gratitude. That’s because at age 92, the
Morristown, New Jersey resident has made it his life’s work to lobby for CEO pay
caps.
Morse purchases stocks in a variety of big corporations, then attends
shareholder meetings where he makes greedy CEOs uncomfortable.
For the most part, Morse’s specific proposals have met with little success,
evidenced by his recent attempts at capping CEO pay during a gathering of
Merck investors. There, only about 4% of shareholders voted for Robert’s reform
measure. The story was the same at Exxon, Ford, and Coca Cola. But Morse’s
efforts have resulted in a nationwide movement for “Say on Pay”, the popular
name for a system whereby shareholders would have direct input on salary
levels of their top dogs.
In fact, according to the Risk Metrics Group, variations of “Say on Pay”
have now been considered by nearly 100 major corporations, and a fourth of
those have already voted on the reform, resulting in an average of about 40%
support from shareholders.
And why not? CEO salaries are out of control, and grossly disproportionate
to compensation for rank-and-file employees.
Late last year the Institute for Policy Studies, along with United for a
Fair Economy reported that an average CEO salary is 340 times greater than that
of his laborers.
In addition to this obscenity, such disparities also result in less monies
available for research and development and employee training, thus having a
negative impact on morale as well as on long-term earnings.
Morse has contempt for these greedy corporate bosses by asking, “How many
planes can you fly on? How many pairs of shoes can you wear?”
Robert believes that capping CEO salaries at $500,000 per year is more than
fair, and he continues to press that point with whoever will listen. For
example, following last year’s meetings where a majority of shareholders
supported CEO caps, Verizon Communications and Par Pharmaceuticals will finally
give investors a non-binding vote on “Say on Pay” beginning in 2009.
Morse admits that bringing CEO salaries back in line will be a long process,
but he is not about to give up. “I’m fighting greed”, he told the
Associated Press recently. “They (CEOs) don’t earn their money. I worked for my
money”.
Yes, Robert Morse deserves some sort of recognition for his tireless,
common-sense efforts. Perhaps a Nobel Prize. Or, maybe a Congressional Medal of
Honor. Even better, John McCain or Barack Obama could make him Secretary of
Labor, where he could ride roughshod over corporate pirates.
At the very least, we should all tip our collective “caps” to this great
man.
So, here’s to you, Robert. You are a great American thinker, and a true
American hero.
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