Trump says high pay for CEOs is a joke and 'disgraceful'

[MBB1984]

A conservative position would be that the Government should  butt out.

Some legislation is probably necessary, such as elimination of poison pills, etc.  Ideally, hostile takeovers should be much easier to achieve.

[MBB1984]

Apparently the stockholders are not overly concerned.

Due to Rational ignorance.  I receive shareholder notices all the time concerning corporate matters, but due to my work schedule, I do not have the time to vote or voice my views.  It is not economically efficient to me to investigate and vote when I own a tiny percentage of ownership and I am losing the opportunity cost of more productive endeavors.  I am not alone, there are countless thousands like me, and therefore, a relatively small percentage of shareholders make the decisions often to their own benefit.

[jmyrlefuller]

How many of those company stocks are buried invisibly into mutual funds? It's no wonder the owners of the companies don't know what their CEO's are getting paid, since they may not even know they own stakes.

[kevindavis007]

Some legislation is probably necessary, such as elimination of poison pills, etc.  Ideally, hostile takeovers should be much easier to achieve.

Right more Government interference in business  will make things better. Right? 

[massadvj]

What Trump is saying here is that so long as someone makes money for oneself, he ought to be rewarded handsomely, but if someone makes a lot of money for other people, he should not be rewarded commensurate to the increase in wealth generated for stockholders and bondholders.  This is ludicrous.

I wonder if Trump's many real estate investment trusts ever compensate Trump or his real estate management firms for  services such as collecting rents and finding tenants?  I doubt Trump performs these services at a price that is below market, in fact I have no doubt he charges a hefty premium for the Trump name.  Seems to me we have a case of the pot calling the kettle black.

To take Trump's argument the other way: if I am an owner of a firm, don't I have the right to pay my managers whatever amount I want?  Stockholders are the owners of corporations, and the board is there to represent their interests.  If a board is acting outside the interest of the stockholders (and I readily concede that many do) then I can easily divest myself of that stock.

I would much prefer to make these decisions myself than to have Donald Trump make them for me.

[massadvj]

How many of those company stocks are buried invisibly into mutual funds? It's no wonder the owners of the companies don't know what their CEO's are getting paid, since they may not even know they own stakes.

But you can bet the mutual fund managers are paying attention.  If a company is overweight in executive compensation it will find itself getting divested by mutual funds.