The writer, a Los Angeles freelancer and former Detroit News business reporter. This column first appeared on his blog, Starkman Approved, and is being republished with permission.
Cut General Motors CEO Mary Barra some slack for caring not one iota about optics. Barra is a GM lifer, a company where personal enrichment of senior management has long superseded the betterment of employees and the communities where they live. Watch Michael Moore’s 1989 classic Roger & Me and you’ll get an education about Barra’s executive DNA.
Barra in 2021 was awarded $29 million in compensation, well above the average $18.5 million paid to America’s other overpaid CEOs. Barra’s ratio of total compensation to the median of all GM employees’ total compensation was 420-1. By comparison, the average S&P company’s CEO-to-worker pay ratio was 324-1.
If Barra’s pay doesn’t make your blood boil, maybe this will: GM also spent $413,368 last year for personal travel, security, company vehicle programs, executive physical and financial counseling for Barra. The financial counseling is what really sticks in my craw; the board awarded Barra an obscene amount of undeserved compensation and then covered the cost of helping her manage the loot.
The payments are sickening, but they illustrate Barra’s unadulterated greed, particularly when it comes to fleecing U.S. taxpayers. It’s fair game to hold Barra personally responsible for all GM’s initiatives and…
