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Hightower Lowdown
"Speak the truth, but ride a fast horse." -- Old West Texas cowboy saying
December's Lowdown
Corporate elites and their small-minded political servants are creating the Incredibly Shrinking America
"We the people of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America." What a paragraph! This sparse, 52-word opening of our Constitution did not merely launch a fledgling nation--but a bold experiment in democratic idealism.
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Sheriff Bush and his posse widen their range
The homeland rebels against the security act
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Bush's snow job
John W. Snow was the Big Kahuna of CSX corporation, one of the nation’s largest railroads, before being tapped by George W. to be Treasury Secretary, our government’s top economic position.
Snow was touted by Bush for his ethics. It seems that he had been quite outspoken in his condemnation of the CEOs of Enron, WorldCom, and other ethically challenged execs. The White House propaganda machine exclaimed that Mr. Pure-as-the-Driven-Snow is so ethical that he agreed to forgo a $15 million payoff that he had written into his CSX contract.
Before we heap hosannas on him, however, let’s note a very special favor he’s getting from CSX that neither he nor the White House have mentioned: his pension. As CEO, Snow cut back on the pensions of CSX retirees, but he took very good care of himself.
He’ll get credit for 44 years of work at CSX, even though he was only there for 25. His benefits will be based not just on his salary (the rule for regular workers), but also on his bonuses and on the value of 250,000 shares of stock the board gave him. This means he’ll collect $2.5 million a year, every year, until he dies.
All this for a CEO who was no great shakes. In the past five years, while his pay rose 69%, CSX’s stock price fell 53%.
John is neither managerially nor ethically apt—he’s just another Bush Snow job.