THIS REALLY IS UNEARNED INCOME

The Princelings of American capitalism have a real knack for cashing in despite not doing anything to earn it:

$80 Million for 6 Weeks for Cable Chief
By DAVID GELLES
March 20, 2014, 12:37 pm
NYT
Robert D. Marcus became chief executive of Time Warner Cable at the start of the year. Less than two months later, he agreed to sell the company to its largest rival, Comcast, for $45 billion.

For that work, he will receive nearly $80 million if the deal closes, a severance payment that amounts to more than $1 million a day for the six weeks he ran the company before agreeing to sell.

Dozens of executives have received exit packages larger than $150 million, including Lee R. Raymond, who received $321 million when he left Exxon Mobil in 2005, and William McGuire, who took home $286 million upon leaving the UnitedHealth Group in 2006.

Golden parachutes first appeared in the 1970s and proliferated in the 1980s.