>But then you tried to categorize executive compensation as investing in the business. No, what happened was 2 separate conversations took place because one to

>But then you tried to categorize executive compensation as investing in the business. No, what happened was 2 separate conversations took place because one topic morphed into another. My original reply to pjc50 was over the formal accounting label of profits-vs-expense. His scenario of paying out the Net Income while still retaining profits is mathematically impossible -- unless you do Enron type of accounting. (pjc50 later clarified he didn't mean all of the $14B would be paid to employees.) On the other hand, I interpreted pjc50 and your usage of "building the business" as a different topic that transcends accounting labels to talk about what's good/bad/effective/moral/whatever for the business regardless of what bucket it's in. In other words, I took a charitable reading and basically agreed that expenses for employees can also "build the business" -- I simply put it in a larger framework of business "priorities" because they have finite resources.