Right: The CEOs of the "big three" American automobile manufacturers face the United States Senate. Despite pleading for money to prevent their companies from going bankrupt, the executives still travelled to Washington on their various corporate jet aircraft, drawing criticism from lawmakers and the news media.
web links and documents
On April 7, 2009, the SBS current affairs program Insight conducted a studio discussion and debate on the question of executive salaries and termination packages. This was a wide-ranging discussion allowing input from a variety of stackholders.
A full transcript of the studio discussion can be found at http://news.sbs.com.au/insight/episode/index/id/60#transcript
An identical transcript of the program can be found at the site of the Minister for Superannuation and Corporate Law, Senator Nick Sherry. http://minscl.treasurer.gov.au/DisplayDocs.aspx?doc=transcripts/2009/013.htm&pageID=004&min=njs&Year=&DocType=
On March 21, 2009, ABC National Radio's philosophy program, The Philosopher's Zone, conducted a discussion titled, 'Understanding and blame while the money runs out'. Key contributors were Tom Campbell, Professor and Director of the Centre for Applied Philosophy and Public Ethics, Charles Sturt University, Australian National University and the University of Melbourne and David Neil, Lecturer in the Philosophy Program,University of Wollongong.
A full transcript of this program can be found at http://www.abc.net.au/rn/philosopherszone/stories/2009/2518164.htm
On March 21, 2009, the Fairfax online business information site BusinessDay published the transcript of a discussion between four leading Australian business executtives giving their views on CEO remuneration. These views were originally published in The Age. The full text of these views can be found at http://www.businessday.com.au/business/leading-business-executives-have-their-say-20090320-9483.html?page=1
On March 18, 2009, the federal Government issued a press release announcing the establishment of a Productivity Commission inquiry into executive remuneration. The full text of this media release, including some of the terms of reference of the inquiry, can be found at http://www.treasurer.gov.au/DisplayDocs.aspx?doc=pressreleases/2009/025.htm&pageID=&min=wms&Year=&DocType=0
On November 29, 2008, The Sydney Morning Herald published a report on a UMR Research survey showing popular attitudes in Australia to executive salary levels. The text of this report can be found at http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/voters-want-controls-on-corporate-salaries/2008/11/28/1227491827183.html
On September 10, 2008, on opinion piece by Harry Binswanger 'Just Pay for CEOs: Why Some CEOs Deserve Huge Salaries' was published by Capitalism Magazine. The full text of this opinion piece can be found at http://www.capmag.com/article.asp?ID=5264
On February 14, 2008, Green Left Weekly published an opinion piece by Lee Sustar titled, 'United States: Rewarded for crashing the economy' which compares rising corporate salaries in the United States with the poor health of the United States economy. The full text of this opinion piece can be found at http://www.greenleft.org.au/2008/740/38295
On March 16, 2009, the e-journal, Online Opinion, published a commentary titled, 'A cap on CEO salaries - creeping socialism?' by Dino Cesta. The piece argues that Australian CEOs are being unfairly targeted and that reducing their salaries could have adverse effects on Australia's corporate health. The full text of this article can be found at http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=8666&page=0
On March 16, 2009, the e-journal, Online Opinion, published a commentary titled, 'Commonsense fairness CEO pay' by Klaas Woldring. Woldring argues that government intervention is necessary to regulate CEO remuneration. The full text of this article can be found at http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=8670