2021年经济学人 疫情重创之下的美国CEO薪资飙升,那你呢?(3)

It is a phenomenon that extends well beyond chief executives. Superstars from J.K. Rowling, an author, to Cristiano Ronaldo, a footballer, also earn spectacularly more than their counterparts would have done in ages past, notes Alex Edmans of the London Business School. In such a competitive global market, high pay may be justified¹ to recruit and keep the best people. Yet its merits are undermined when bosses reap the windfalls from extraordinarily² good times, such as a stockmarket boom, but are spared the consequences of misfortune, such as a pandemic. As Mr Edmans puts it: “If you’re letting CEOs benefit from the upside, they have to feel the pain on the downside.” Boards tend to ignore that. Perhaps they, too, gain from perpetuating³ a system that keeps their own salaries high. For whatever reason, they threw around the pain-killers last year like smarties.

这样的大幅涨薪现象不仅存在于首席执行官行业。伦敦商学院的亚历克斯?埃德曼指出，从作家J.K.罗琳到足球运动员克里斯蒂亚诺?罗纳尔多，这些超级巨星过去的收入也远超他们的同行。如今的全球市场竞争激烈，以高薪来招聘和留住最优秀的人才也或许合乎情理。然而，当这些首席执行官们从股市繁荣等异常好的时期获取巨额收益，却也能免遭疫情等灾难带来的后果时，高薪的优势就被削弱了。正如埃德曼先生所说：“如果你让首席执行官们在行情好时获益，那他们也必须感受到下跌的痛苦。”董事会往往忽略了这一点。或许董事们也能从维持自己高薪的制度中获益。不管出于什么原因，去年他们把高薪的止痛药就像廉价的聪明豆一样到处投放。

Pliant⁴ boards are not the only problem. Pusillanimous⁵ investors⁶ are part of it, too. Until the pandemic, the average vote supporting management on say-on-pay proposals was 90% or more, says Semler Brossy, a pay consultancy. That’s a whopping approval rate. By contrast, CalPERS, America’s most outspoken⁷ public-pension fund, in 2019 and 2020 voted against more than half of them, usually because the rises were not justified by mediocre⁸ market performance. Things appear to be changing. MyLogIQ says that the share of companies in the S&P 500 that have failed say-on-pay votes so far this year is running at 6.1%, almost three times the level for the whole of 2019. Institutions claim that the issue has become more pressing because the “heads-I-win, tails-you-lose” approach to pay screams inequality.

善变的董事会不是唯一的问题。优柔寡断的投资者也得承担部分责任。Semler Brossy薪资顾问集团表示，在疫情爆发之前，支持管理层的薪酬决定权提案的平均投票率为90%以上。这是一个惊人的支持率。相比之下，美国最直言不讳的公共养老基金CalPERS在2019年和2020投票中的反对率过半，反对派通常以市场表现平平，涨幅不足为由。事情似乎在发生变化。MyLogIQ公司表示，今年迄今为止，标普500指数成份股中未通过薪酬决定权的公司所占比例为6.1%，几乎是2019年全年水平的三倍。机构称，这一问题已经变得更为紧迫，因为“正面我赢，反面你输”的薪酬方式加剧了不平等。

1 justified   

a.正当的，有理的

参考例句：

• She felt fully justified in asking for her money back. 她认为有充分的理由要求退款。
• The prisoner has certainly justified his claims by his actions. 那个囚犯确实已用自己的行动表明他的要求是正当的。

2 extraordinarily   

adv.格外地；极端地

参考例句：

• She is an extraordinarily beautiful girl.她是个美丽非凡的姑娘。
• The sea was extraordinarily calm that morning.那天清晨，大海出奇地宁静。

3 perpetuating   

perpetuate的现在进行式

参考例句：

• Revenge leads to a self-perpetuating cycle of violence. 怨怨相报会导致永不休止的暴力。
• It'set out to eradicate heresy, and ended by perpetuating it. 它的目的只是要根除异端邪说，结果却巩固了异端邪说。 来自英汉文学

4 pliant   

adj.顺从的；可弯曲的

参考例句：

• She's proud and stubborn,you know,under that pliant exterior.你要知道，在温顺的外表下，她既自傲又固执。
• They weave a basket out of osiers with pliant young willows.他们用易弯的柳枝编制篮子。

5 pusillanimous   

adj.懦弱的，胆怯的

参考例句：

• The authorities have been too pusillanimous in merely condemning the violence.当局对暴行只是进行了谴责，真是太胆小怕事了。
• The pusillanimous man would not defend his own family.软弱无力的人不会保卫他自己的家。

6 investors   

n.投资者，出资者( investor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a con man who bilked investors out of millions of dollars 诈取投资者几百万元的骗子
• a cash bonanza for investors 投资者的赚钱机会

7 outspoken   

adj.直言无讳的，坦率的，坦白无隐的

参考例句：

• He was outspoken in his criticism.他在批评中直言不讳。
• She is an outspoken critic of the school system in this city.她是这座城市里学校制度的坦率的批评者。

8 mediocre   

adj.平常的，普通的

参考例句：

• The student tried hard,but his work is mediocre. 该生学习刻苦，但学业平庸。
• Only lazybones and mediocre persons could hanker after the days of messing together.只有懒汉庸才才会留恋那大锅饭的年代。