The Best Thing You Can Be is CEO - The Nation

The Nation is hawking merchandise in a fundraising effort. In its latest email to me, The Nation provides this commentary as an inducement to purchase mugs and t-shirts:




"Republicans are slashing state budgets, job growth is sluggish and students are graduating with ever increasing piles of debt. Not everyone is hurting, though. Corporate profits keep climbing and executive pay shows no signs of slowing down. With our mug featuring Calvin Trillin's poem "The Best Thing You Can Be is CEO," perk yourself up with a reminder that some folks always do well—no matter how many economies they crash. Available at Nation Mart, a large portion of the proceeds benefit The Nation."

I'm actually very glad that "Republicans are slashing state budgets," if indeed this is happening. But I doubt it. I challenge the Nation to produce a list of State budgets that are lower this year than last. The amount of decrease has to be substantial (to qualify for the term "slashing"), and there must be at least two states that have done so, since "budgets" is in the plural.

I'm also glad that corporate profits are climbing, because if they're doing well, then they are hiring and making products I want to buy. But again, I question this. Not because there aren't corporations doing well, but because of the generic use of the term "corporation." It suggests a behemoth organization running roughshod over innocents in the pursuit of profit, which certainly qualifies as a stereotype. 


I own a corporation, and it consists of me and my partner. The Obama economy has cost me a great deal over the last 3 years, and I am just now getting back to where I was before the Democrats took over Congress. Oh, and this statistic: 23% of business owners have gone a year without paying themselves. Obviously, "corporations" is an overly broad characterization of a far more diverse situation.

This never-ending fascination with CEO pay amazes me, as if the amount a CEO is paid has anything at all to do with my life circumstances. But I will grant the point about the burden of CEO pay on the corporation, if the Left provides a similar concession about the burden of Big Government on the economy.

Last point. The best thing I can be is not a CEO. If their measure of "best" is a humongous paycheck, then there is something seriously wrong with their thinking. There is so much satisfaction and beauty out there. So many ways to make a living. Family, friends. How crude to reduce the best things in life to what a CEO earns. Truly sad.