Dear Jim Owens,
I know a lot of people are upset to hear that you earned $17,700,000.00 last year in the midst of the this tough economy. I understand that it was based on last year’s stellar performance by Caterpillar and this year’s pay will be significantly less, so I will not begrudge you that.
I would also like to congratulate you on your recent donation of 1 mil to the Children’s Hospital. {correction via an email: Owens and his wife made a $500,000 donation to CHOI. Cat then matched it for a total of 1 Million.} That was very generous of you. If you would like to generate more good will in the community, and that might not be a bad idea, I would suggest you make a similar contribution of the Peoria PlayHouse Children’s Museum here in Peoria. If you don’t recall, it’s going to be located in the Glen Oak Park pavilion building, but has been sort-of neglected lately because of all that talk about a downtown museum. I’d pay to build the whole thing myself, but I don’t have that kind of dough. Remember, it’s tax deductible.
If you would like to discuss this further over lunch or a round of golf at Augusta National (I heard you’re a member), you can email me at PeoriaIllinoisan@Yahoo.com. I look forward to hearing from you.
April 22nd, 2009 at 12:15 pm
If he says you have to have a foursome I could probability clear my schedule.
April 22nd, 2009 at 4:26 pm
If he says you have to have a threesome, don’t bother trying with my wife, I’ve been pleading for years.
April 22nd, 2009 at 6:24 pm
Bada bing!!!!
Are you kidding about the Augusta membership?
Wow.
April 22nd, 2009 at 6:27 pm
The “Peoria Play” what at Glen Oak where?
P.I. forget that idea…..we have bigger fish to fry down on the riverfront!!!!
Get ready for the massive rush of people moving back to Peoria!!!!
April 22nd, 2009 at 8:51 pm
See my comment at Merle’s post for a clearer picture of what Owen’s actually made. His cash compensation was only a little over $6 million.
April 23rd, 2009 at 8:20 pm
“See my comment at Merle’s post for a clearer picture of what Owen’s actually made. His cash compensation was only a little over $6 million.”
Must be rough
April 25th, 2009 at 8:06 pm
103 more people just got the word they’re going out the door; is this where the visitor’s center moola is coming from? I think it’s safe to say it’s not from Jim.
April 27th, 2009 at 5:41 pm
Instead of being agitated over what 1 CEO made last year, I’m surprised that more people are not incensed in general about executive compensation at corporations. The average CEO compensation for fortune 500 companies was $12.8 Mil in 2008 (according to Forbes). Mr. Owens’ 2008 compensation, while still a large figure, is not exceptional in this club and actually is less than other companies CAT’s size (CAT likes to promote it’s executives from within, reducing the need for the ‘keep up with the Jones’ pay).
In the US, the average CEO makes over 400x more than the average worker. In many other industrial nations, that ratio is closer to 50x. Is anyone really worth that much money? You can’t tell me there’s not someone else just as talented in these corporations that would do just as good (or better) of a job for far less. Should one person at a corporation really make more in one year than an average worker (or entire team of workers) will make in their entire careers?