A Tale of Two Careers

autofixer

Veteran
Aug 20, 2002
1,804
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www.usaviation.com
Today Stan O'Neal announced he would "retire" after 21 years service at Merrill Lynch. He will leave with a severance package reported to be worth over $100-200 million including stock options and salary. What did Stan do? He ran Merrill as CEO for 5 years, chasing higher and ever higher yielding financial instruments. The board (the people with over-sight) loved Stan. Stan finally dove head long, into CDOs (Collateralized Debt Obligations), over $15 billion worth; now it is not know how much they are worth, thus what they can be priced for re-sale. Imagine, you spent $15 billion for a widget and now it is unknown what the value of that widget is. The board looked the other way as Stan was able to deliver high yeilds and great quarterly results. But there was a dark side to these "high yielding" instruments and it is reported Stan fired those middle managers who were warning him about the bond and financing problems on the horizon. So old Stan leaves with a bundle for screwing up Merrill ($8 Billion dollar write down this quarter with more losses to come). http://money.aol.com/news/articles/_a/onea...026070909990001

Now look at my carrer and that of over 2500 USAir Pilots. Like Stan, I have been at USAir for 21 years. Unlike Stan, I have no retirement or severance package and recieved a 40% pay cut for my performance. How have I performed to recieve this pay cut? I have individually, as sole manipulator of the aircrafts controls, flown millions of peolpe from point A to point B safely and without ANY incidents, EVER.

It is obvious what the American public and this company in general think of the aviating career vs. the corportate executive career. Perhaps it is time for an "Atlas Shrugged" moment and say to heck with it. The American public wants greedy corportate types...they reward them with millions of dollars for screwing up...just look at Merrill Lynch. The American public wants cheap airline fares and they don't really care about safety or performance...you can tell, just look at what has been done to the U East pilots and even so, our planes are packed. In the market economy, the public gets what they want. They obviously desire cheap tickets over qualification and experience and well maintained airplanes. The public wants greedy corportate types, as long as they don't get caught screwing up and they can return a nickle more per month on their investment. Have a nice flight and hold on to your wallet.
 
It is obvious what the American public and this company in general think of the aviating career vs. the corportate executive career. Perhaps it is time for an "Atlas Shrugged" moment and say to heck with it. The American public wants greedy corportate types...they reward them with millions of dollars for screwing up...just look at Merrill Lynch. The American public wants cheap airline fares and they don't really care about safety or performance...you can tell, just look at what has been done to the U East pilots and even so, our planes are packed. In the market economy, the public gets what they want. They obviously desire cheap tickets over qualification and experience and well maintained airplanes. The public wants greedy corportate types, as long as they don't get caught screwing up and they can return a nickle more per month on their investment. Have a nice flight and hold on to your wallet.


1st off Stan O'Neal saved Merrill years ago when he came on board and cut middle management. Making them a viable company again. He gambled on the Sub-prime mortgage game and lost, but that was not his undoing. The amount of money lost by Merrill was a one-time hit that can easily be made up. In business you need to show some risk to make some money. O'neal lost in the sub-prime game that is all. What cost him his job at Merrill was courting a merger with Wachovia without the approval of the Board. This was seen as a big no no, the sub-prime loss was the excuse the board needed to get rid of a guy who dared to defy their authority.

As for your contention of quality in the airline industry. When was the last time a plane went down? I know this is a morbid thought, but as long as the planes are flying safely from point A to point B, the American public will only demand higher customer service (which you will fail to provide) and lower ticket prices (which you have so far). The average customer could care less if the guy or gal flying the plane is a silverback and a new college graduate so long as they get where they want to go.
 
As for your contention of quality in the airline industry. When was the last time a plane went down? I know this is a morbid thought, but as long as the planes are flying safely from point A to point B, the American public will only demand higher customer service (which you will fail to provide) and lower ticket prices (which you have so far). The average customer could care less if the guy or gal flying the plane is a silverback and a new college graduate so long as they get where they want to go.
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I think your reply makes my point. By the way, planes go down all the time around the World. This is the future of aviation in the US. I'll be driving.

So Stan saved Merrill...does that give him the right to possibly destroy the same company? You are only as good as your last quarter.
 
$8 Billion dollars to a company like Merrill is nothing. They control trillions in assets. As I said it was his arrogance that got him canned, not his bet on the Sub-Prime market.