CEO of the 1%

We all know that many, many big time CEOs make a lot of money.  Over the past week or so the compensation of the former Liberty Mutual CEO and his management team was made public.  Brian McGrory of the Boston Globe has really taken the CEO, Edmund Kelly, and the company board to task.  His comments are particularly trenchant when one realizes that Liberty is a mutual insurance company, i.e., there are no stockholders, policyholders own the company. (Since the Globe has a pay wall, you may not be able to access the articles.)

Let's begin with Mr. Kelly.  He attributed his compensation of $50,000,000 annually to "accounting issues".  One might rightly ask how he reached the top of the pyramid if he can offer such a stupid reason.  However, he did triple revenue in his 13 years at the top. The company is now in the Fortune 100.  

I assume that Met Life, GE, IBM and AT&T are also in the Fortune 100 and probably have higher revenues than Liberty.  However, Kelly earned far more than the CEOs of these and most other companies in the Fortune 100.  In fact, one study of the 300 of the nation’s largest publicly traded companies concluded that only three of the CEOs of these companies made more than Kelly.

And, of course, there are perks, one of which is the personal use of company airplanes for "security reasons".  Thus, Mr. Kelly and who knows who else was able to fly to his home in Vero Beach 22 times in four years.  During the summer the Liberty airline flew often from Bedford to Hyannis (Kelly also has a home not far from Hyannis).  Other destinations in the last four years: Venice, Italy, Palm Springs, Santa Barbara, Monterey, and Napa Valley, Calif., Barbados, Barcelona, Jamaica, Augusta, Ga. West Palm Beach, Fort Myers, Nantucket, and Orlando.  Mr. Kelly is certainly well-traveled. I'm sure all of these places are hotbeds for selling insurance.

Next at the Liberty Mutual trough are the directors, who earn $200,000 annually for serving on the board.  Many of them feed at multiple troughs, as is common with most boards of the big-time companies.

Finally, we have Kelly's subordinates.  The top nine executives under Kelly earn more than the starting Red Sox nine, which in these days of astronomical salaries to athletes boggles the mind.  The Chief Investment Officer earns more than the CEOs of MetLife and Allstate. 

All the while Liberty is hiking premiums and getting tax breaks from the state and city.

What do you think?  Is this your view of what this country's so-called job creators should be paid?  Something is not right.