Now that Tod has graciously given me a soapbox to stand on I will type away and thus prove that I am indeed dumb after all.
Actually I can expand on my thoughts a bit.
Basically what I meant was that you hear of so many CE0's who are getting lavish pension and severance checks and for what...success/failure??? For every 1 that has been successful there are 1000 management exec's that have not made it, and 10,000 that have been trampled along the way. I have no ill feelings towards CEO's that do well, and they should be compensated for intellectual property, good guidance and management skills, but for even the few that have made it, what is the carnage they have left behind? Divorces, unmanageable children, co-workers with wrecked career paths...
A few boards crudely nailed together is just as successful at being a jewelry box as the most ornate box pinned together with Japanese dovetails. But its what lies within that value is truly ascertained. The most ornate jewelry box is only worth what the box is worth if costume jewelry is kept within, while those pine boards crudely nailed together may hold an antique ring of brilliance and value.
For me many CEO's are like the fancy jewelery box, all show but nothing worth seeing on the inside. Nope give me the Tod's, Larry's, Steve's of this forum any day, and a bunch of old farmers to boot. A few weeks ago a local farmer had his tractor broken in half by the Amish and laughed when they were going to fix it right away. In a nut shell he told them to get his other tractor and to get their hay in, the broken tractor could be fixed later. He opened his box and what lie within was beautiful despite his dirty jeans and grease ridden John Deere cap. Recently the inside of wall street was opened up as well and it was pretty dark and empty from what I can see. I think a lot of people saw that too.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone. Today you are with family and that is a beautiful thing.