Daily Archives: April 21, 2014

CEO Pay is Perverse and Must be Fixed to Avoid Recurrent Crises

Posted on April 21, 2014 by William Black | 11 Comments

Slate has published a piece by Zachary Karabell entitled “Stop Obsessing Over exorbitant CEO Pay” in which the author appears unaware that he has reported, and then ignored, evidence that scholars he cites favorably are “resoundingly convinced” proves the opposite. Karabell’s author’s page shows that he has recently joined Slate and promotes theoclassical dogmas about economics. He is a Wall Streeter of the kind that thinks it is an honor to be a “regular” on CNBC. He also touts being a favorite of the Davos plutocrats. In roughly a month with Slate he has managed to be an apologist for high unemployment, inequality, and high frequency trading (HFT) scams.

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Posted in William K. Black

Tagged accounting control fraud, Control Fraud, criminogenic environment, executive compensation, Karabell, white collar crime

Zachary Karabell and our Flawed “Society of Apologists for Plutocrats (SAPs)”

Posted on April 21, 2014 by William Black | 5 Comments

By William K. Black

Slate has replaced one minor member of the Society of Apologists for Plutocrats (SAPs), Matt Yglesias, with another, Zachary Karabell. The transition has been seamless. As I noted in my prior column, Karabell’s initial columns served up apologias for extraordinary executive compensation and extreme inequality, high youth unemployment, and high frequency trading (HFT) scams. Karabell is the type of Wall Streeter who thinks it reflects well on him that he has been a “regular” on CNBC, rather than an admission of grave defects of character and intellect. Similarly, he thinks it is an honor that he was dubbed a bright young thing (a decade ago) by the denizens of Davos, the club for selfless plutocrats eager to “take up the white man’s burden.”

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