Big Benefits for Execs

Re “Despite Recession, Perks for Top Executives Grow,” Feb. 1: Company executives have long defended their practice of providing lucrative bonuses on top of generous salaries on the need to attract well-qualified personnel. As has been shown most notably in the Enron case, this has not always benefited the rank-and-file employees or the stockholders.

Rewards for executives should be the result of the increased share value based on their expert management skills. They should not be a privileged class, secretively rewarded independent of the company performance. Obscuring these benefits in the financial reports needs to be corrected. Eliminating them as a tax-deductible business expense is something Congress can do. Doing so may cause these to go the way of the three-martini lunch.

Lawrence A. Nowak

Torrance