Apparently, Sony is freezing “non-managerial” wages in what looks like a cost-cutting maneuver. It’s not quite the same thing as AIG’s insane bonuses on this side of the pond, but it’s still boosting the managerial staff, when what should be happening is either a broad spectrum freeze or managerial cuts (or pink slips with no parachutes). These are the guys, after all, who led the company merrily into red ink. In a honest meritocracy, that sort of thing is a call for replacement, not shifting the burden to the cubicle drones or taxpayers to pay for bonuses or raises.
It’s a good time to be a manager, though. I’m definitely in the wrong hotseat, at least if all I cared about was the money. Even so, shafting the people who actually produce the goods isn’t a viable long term strategy. It’s popular, but stupid.
“It’s popular, but stupid.” — Indeed. Sadly, stupid appears to trump just about everything else, and smart tends to come in last place. Stupid is what makes short-term self-interest solutions look better than long-term mutual-interest ones.
Aye, and when the government bails out the short termers by pilfering from the long termers, it’s just another kick in the head. That ever-hoped for day of reckoning where the grasshoppers pay the piper keeps getting kicked down the road.