Are you a Safeco shareholder? Are you pissed off by the $17 million golden parachute Safeco gave Mike McGavick after he announced his resignation? If you’re both, send me an email.
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I’m not a Safeco shareholder. I considered buying Safeco stock several times, but never did. That’s why.
Memo to CEOs: I don’t invest in companies that abuse their shareholders.
Any questions?
Well, Gary Locke is on the board of directors and was when McGavick got his golden parachute.
http://www.safeco.com/safeco/a.....5F0218.asp
I’m not sure if he’s pissed.
Have you ever gotten a loan from a bank? Are you hacked off that Maria Cantwell got a better deal on a loan (with stock options as flimsy collateral) than you ever would have gotten for the same deal— If you even could have GOTTEN such a deal, which is severely doubtful.
And no, I’m not outraged by McGavick’s severance. I am a Safeco customer, however, and they’ve treated me well.
and yes….go talk to Gary Locke if you are angry about it. Did you vote for Gary Locke, and if so, why if he’s making such ‘bad’ decisions? I understand that Mike has done a good job running Safeco.
I’ve noticed a lot of the CEOs are VERY kind to themselves. Most of the time they get away with it because the shareholders simply don’t understand what’s going on, or they’re majority shareholders who are also helping themselves to other shareholders’ money, along with the bad CEOs, CFOs, etc.
The only reason Key Lay and Jeff Skilling got caught is that they were too greedy.
give me a break…. that is standard practice for most large companies. Consider the fact that Cantwell’s “job” and compensation at Real was just a way to hide Glaser’s campaign contribution.
This is nothing out of the ordinary for an executive. My company just paid 13 million to an exec who did not want to relocate so he resigned. Fair? Not in communist China.
Eric:
Cantwell took a job at Realnetworks in 1995 and was elected to Senate in 2000. Are you really contending that hiring her in 1995 was a disguised campaign contribution for her Senate run years later? If you really believe that, your tinfoil hat is too tight and its cutting off the circulation to your brain.
The last thing we need in the Senate is an insurance executive. The insurance industry is even more adept than our federal government at extorting money from us and providing nothing in return. We do not even get the “peace of mind” the industry claims to provide; the likelihood of a claim denial is far too high for any rational person to expect good faith on an insurer’s part. The insurance industry is the deep dark hole of capitalism, and McGavick is its errand boy.
Has Cantthinkandwalkwell ever paid back her ‘loan’?
NOPE.
Her last estimated worth was 2.5 million.
But, of course, she OWES 2 million.
Still trying to understand how righties think – the question is related to Safeco shareholders and Alaska’s Senatorial candidate Mike McGavick. Did Maria Cantwell borrow money from Safeco NO , their shareholders NO or Mikey NO ? So tell me how that is relevant? Oh I get it. Relevance is something righties hate. Do the right wingers have such a hard time defending their ilk that they bat at thin air in hopes of deflection?
The thing that smells funny about the Safeco deal is that after McGavick supposedly masterminded their “miracle turnaround” and waltzed off with his fancy severance package, it looks like the company is about to cave in on itself. Seems like the “miracle” consisted mainly of finding a big enough microwave oven in the company cafeteria to put the books into and push the “Well Done” button.
We don’t own any Safeco stock, but we are Met Life policy holders, and it sure felt pretty good to become shareholders when they demutualized. I don’t think the insurance industry is inherently evil, but the nature of its business doesn’t seem to fit well with the current “quarter-to-quarter” mindset.
It has been said of those marvelous, tall buildings that house insurance companies’ home offices that if you look closely, it is not mortar between the bricks that hold them together. . .but rather human blood. . . . . .
What’s wrong with a CEO of a major corporation getting adequate compensation.
I think you guys are just jealous that you only make $40k a year and that you’ll NEVER amount to anything.
Greed, envy, covetousness….hallmarks of librulism.
Proud Leftist, are you anti-capitalist? When you lefties talk like that, you get a little too honest for your own good. That stuff SCARES mainstreet USA and that’s why you guys are losing so much, these days. You guys SCARE people and don’t realize it. Then they get the idea that you guys are anti-american and don’t want to vote for you.
I’ll tell you what scares mainstreet USA, but not WhackoNeoconWay. Raiding Social Security. Encouraging energy price gouging. Skyrocketingmedical expenses., Gutting the FDA. Not providing body armor to the troops. All courtesy of the Bush Krime family .
Time to change NOW .
16
Observation of human nature suggests that capitalism is a natural tendency among us. So, I’m not anticapitalist. That doesn’t mean we have to sit idly by and ignore capitalism’s excesses. The insurance industry, which aside from Major League Baseball, is the only industry exempt from the antitrust laws, needs a whole helluva lot more reining in than it gets.
5
AAA Washington’s insurance services dumped Safeco because they have one of the worst claims-payout-to-premiums-collected ratios of any insurance company doing business in Washington.
11
So what? How many people have houses worth $2.5 million and owe $2 million on them? I’ll bet 98% of such people are Republicans. Damn few Democrats live in $2.5 million houses.
12
“Do the right wingers have such a hard time defending their ilk that they bat at thin air in hopes of deflection?” Commentby LeftTurn— 6/16/06@ 5:02 pm
Yes
13
“We don’t own any Safeco stock, but we are Met Life policy holders, and it sure felt pretty good to become shareholders when they demutualized. I don’t think the insurance industry is inherently evil, but the nature of its business doesn’t seem to fit well with the current “quarter-to-quarter” mindset.” Commentby ArtFart— 6/16/06@ 5:02 pm
“Evil” is a slippery concept, but insurance is not a good deal when the “house” takes more than slot machines do. I begin to think of an insurance company as “evil” when they take a customer’s premium money, then if misfortune befalls the customer, he has to hire a lawyer and go to court to enforce the policy because the insurance company won’t honor its contract with the customer. I’ve seen that happen, and when it does, I come pretty close to choosing the word “evil” to describe the insurance company.
15
“What’s wrong with a CEO of a major corporation getting adequate compensation.” Commentby Mark The Redneck Kennedy— 6/16/06@ 5:16 pm
What’s wrong with every wroker getting adequate compensation? If the employer is getting a reasonable rate of return in relation to risk on his invested capital and other inputs, why shouldn’t the workers get the rest of the income from what they produce?
Now go ahead and call that “communism.”
18
Capitalism, left unregulated, destroys itself. Capitalism’s natural tendency is to concentrate wealth and eliminate competition. When competition is eliminated and wealth is concentrated, prices skyrocket, productivity plummets, innovation and invention stop, and the economy becomes moribund.
24 – Uh… that’s what ALWAYS happens under socialism. And since you moonbats are just a slightly lighter shade of gray, that’s why we fight you.
consider the $17 million a downpayment in the bribery department?
18: Well thank you for the input. Speaking of exemptions,I learned that abortion clinics have gotten themselves exempt from the sterilization standards and requirements of the everyday medical clinics. Suspicious, isn’t it? I’d like to think that when those women are in there that they could at least expect the same cleanliness the rest of us get in the real medical world. sounds more like backalley, rather than clinical. And I’m sure it was the abortion clinics themselves who fought for their less-than-clean standards.
I don’t own Safeco stock, never will. I figure if they treat their stockholders anything like they treat their policyholders, then I’d be foolish to do so. Owning stock is a bit like going into business with someone – if you cannot trust them, then no matter how “iron-clad” the contract, or how much you pay your lawyer, you are still going to end up regretting it in the end.
Most of you know that “underinsured motorist” coverage pays you if you are injured (or your car is damaged) by an uninsured driver, or one who’s insurance limits are below the actual damages. For ten years I saw instance after case where, no matter what the injury, the standard Safeco settlement offer (to their own insureds) was $3,000. To get more, you not only had to hire a lawyer and file suit, but shell out money for costs (including expert witness fees), only to have Safeco make the FIRST serious offer just as the jury is about to be selected. At the time they used their own in-house lawyers, so it didn’t cost them a thing to pursue frivolous defenses and delaying tactics. I don’t know if they still use in-house counsel or the same tactics, but I’ll be damned if I risk my family’s welfare by paying them good money for little more than the right to file a lawsuit when I really need a good insurer.
15
Greed? Envy? Covetousness? Ummm, project much, Mark?
Roger Rarebit
Enuff! Can’t you make single posts? I gave up reading you.
A Challenge to Cantwell …
McGavick’s package is a legitimate issue, iff and only iff she is willing to make the GENERAL issue a campaign item.
Why not propose corporate board/salary reform? Calling America’s intertwined corporate boards free market capitalism is like claiming that the Vatican operates operates accordng to WWJD (what would Jesus do?).
The federal government could address these issues at several levelers:
true progressive taxation. The alternative minimum tax works, the idea needs to be strengthened to deal with these sort of corporate self payouts.
shareholder power. our democracy insists on protection of minority opinions, corporate rules quash these. Legislation could empower minority shareholders to hold these deals up to the light.
deferred compensation. This is a huge tax dodge as is the entire area of options, prepaid club memberships, etc.
Or is Cantwell a democrat?
Looks like Safeco’s “miracle turnaround” is like Enron’s.
MTR
“What’s wrong with a CEO of a major corporation getting adequate compensation[?]”
If Mike McGavick were not running for the Senate it would be no big deal, business as usual, a private transaction between private entities. But since he stepped down from his post at safeco to run for the what is laughingly (by Republicans) referred to as “a position of public trust” in the US Senate, AND because at least some of his compensation package was awarded AFTER he declared his candidacy, the appearance at least is that this is a badly disguised campaign contribution which if it were offered outright would be illegal. Get it now? Of course you don’t.
sayWA 27
You wouldn’t have, say, some sort of support for you contention, would you?
They are both a bunch of corrupt CEO’s. Two side of the corrupt corporate kettle if you ask me. Is our slug really any better than theirs?
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