Over the years, executives of Northwest Airlines (pre-merger with Delta Airlines) had achieved the following: 1) Controlling interest in the airline by means of leveraged buy-out, where they had to front little of their own money; 2) as major employer, coaxed $800 million "loan" from state of Minnesota that was never fully repaid; 3) awarded themselves bonuses during good operating years; retained employment AND bonuses during bad operating years, 'cuz they were the "most experienced and best people to guide the airline through bad times"; 4) nearly succeeded in securing ALL gates at Mpls/St.Paul Int'l Airport (NWA controlled 80%) and forcing competitor airlines to relocate to the secondary Hubert H. Humphrey Airport -- only to be thwarted by an ill-timed recessionary airline market; and of course, 5) golden parachutes aplenty when NWA was acquired by Delta Airlines, while rank-and-file employees suffered pay cuts and lay-offs.

And I dare anyone to justify seven-figure salaries, when untold numbers of blue-collar folk put up with the same long hours, stresses, and (worse) working conditions just to earn a living wage. America is the land of dreams, but our business culture is seriously out-of-whack.