In recent years, studies have found that most people only read headlines and not the main story. If they do take the time to read the news article, then they’ll only peruse the couple of paragraphs. This is dangerous, especially when the fake news media distorts, manipulates, and lies about events.
A recent example of this is former Labor Secretary Robert Reich.
Earlier this week, Reich tweeted out a story about how a bankruptcy court approved $25 million in bonuses for top executives.
He added this comment: “Let me get this straight: Sears has $25 million laying around to pay out executives who ran the company into the ground, but doesn’t have any money to give the thousands of workers they laid off severance pay?”
Of course, it received more than 31,000 retweets and 74,000 likes. It was also retweeted by none other than Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
But here’s the real story that’s actually inside the article:
First, more than 300 high-level employees are being incentivized to stay with Sears and help rebuild the company. This means about $25 million is being divided among those 300-something workers.
Second, much of the money will only be allocated if these employees can reach several milestones that really rebuild the business.
Third, wouldn’t it be better if this $25 million was spent to actually save Sears and re-employ the thousands who lost their jobs? You would think so, but don’t tell that to the left.
From CBS News:
The judge gave the green light to Sears’ proposal that it offer bonuses up to $8.4 million to 19 executives if Sears meets some financial targets during the next six months. Those workers would be eligible for the extra money if Sears is positioned to reach those targets when sold, a lawyer for Sears said at the hearing, according to the Chicago Tribune.
Sears also received approval to earmark up to $16.9 million in retention bonuses for another group of 315 senior employees, with each eligible for the equivalent of 30 percent to 40 percent of their salary, to be divided into quarterly payments during the next year.
Right away, people see the left keywords – executives, millions, bonuses, layoffs – and then start whining without reading the story.
Why does Sears have to give them anything extra? They are high paid employees, if they want to keep their jobs, turn the company around, period. The rich get the gravy and the poor get a pink slip.
This is ridicules. I fear someone incentivized to promote the righteousness of Sears’s decision wrote this article. I agree that it is productive to try to analyze a situation from multiple perspectives, but I also think it is impossible to see it from Sears’s side unless there was financial benefit from the individual. For example, Sears has many investors who have lost and would most likely like to remedy some of that lose and potentially gain from the investment. That being said, IT IS STILL WRONG. So you made a bad investment. The employees should not be held accountable for those decisions, which a shareholder inevitably has a say in. Suck it up, have some accountability, live with your choices, exercise some integrity, promote honorable action, AND ALWAYS PUT THE NEEDS OF THOSE UNDER YOU BEFORE YOUR OWN. This is leadership 101 and, as far as I can see, Sears is encouraging its leadership to use position to obtain profit that directly effects those they were responsible for.