LETTER: Give CEOs their due
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The puerile bleats of Ian Robinson regarding CEO rewards reminds me of communist Russia before things changed. (“Private sector CEOs’ obscene pay sets bad example (../letters/2020-08-31-letter-private-sector-ceos-obscene-pay-sets-bad-example/)”, September 1).
What Robinson describes is pure capitalism at work, the notion of dog eat dog. “Profit maximisation” is what makes profitable and healthy companies and, naturally, the directors are entitled to the profits, even if they are excessive.
His analogy of corruption in Eskom and other state organisations as a direct consequence of company executives’ “obscene remuneration”, is completely absurd, because in Eskom and other state entities there has been wholesale looting and nothing was produced that remotely indicated a profit.
Moreover, unskilled labour is cheap because it is unskilled. Automation is the more expensive option, but it would result in thousands of job losses. Winston Churchill said: “The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings; the inherent virtue of socialism is the equal sharing of miseries.”
Nathan Cheiman
Northcliff
JOIN THE DISCUSSION: Send us an e-mail with your comments. Letters of more than 300 words will be edited for length. Send your letter by e-mail to letters@businesslive.co.za (mailto:letters@businesslive.co.za). Anonymous correspondence will not be published. Writers should include a daytime telephone number.
What Robinson describes is pure capitalism at work, the notion of dog eat dog. “Profit maximisation” is what makes profitable and healthy companies and, naturally, the directors are entitled to the profits, even if they are excessive.
His analogy of corruption in Eskom and other state organisations as a direct consequence of company executives’ “obscene remuneration”, is completely absurd, because in Eskom and other state entities there has been wholesale looting and nothing was produced that remotely indicated a profit.
Moreover, unskilled labour is cheap because it is unskilled. Automation is the more expensive option, but it would result in thousands of job losses. Winston Churchill said: “The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings; the inherent virtue of socialism is the equal sharing of miseries.”
Nathan Cheiman
Northcliff
JOIN THE DISCUSSION: Send us an e-mail with your comments. Letters of more than 300 words will be edited for length. Send your letter by e-mail to letters@businesslive.co.za (mailto:letters@businesslive.co.za). Anonymous correspondence will not be published. Writers should include a daytime telephone number.