How to succeed in business without really succeeding | Michael Tomasky

When last we checked in with former Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship, he was assuring America and the world that he always put safety first, after the deaths of those 29 men in that southern West Virginia mine.

Since then he's been doing a lot of bellyaching about the federal investigation into same, and then he retired. Via HuffPo, I see that a site called footnoted.com has dug into some Massey records and found:

As a result of the tragedy at UBB, [federal mine-safety regulators] significantly increased regulatory enforcement in our mines. The increased regulatory enforcement had a significant negative impact our productivity and operating results for 2010. Although revenues increased 13% compared to 2009, due to the UBB tragedy and the significantly increased regulatory environment in which we operate, we had a net loss of $166.6 million for 2010...

...$14.4 million in all, including severance, 2010 bonus payments (yes, he got one), a secretary and office space for up to five years in retirement, two years of health-care benefits, a two-year consulting contract, a free house, reimbursement for $257,111 in taxes on the free house, and even an option on the land next to the free house. Plus, as far as we can tell, he still stands to collect a pension valued at $7 million, and a deferred-compensation account balance of $32.1 million.

A $14.4 million severance package after losing $167 million dollars. That's budgeting that would make Paul Ryan proud.

The one thing that stuck out to me though...only two years of health benefits? Isn't that actually a little parsimonious? Hey don't sweat it Don: in four years you'll be eligible for Medicare, then you can let the taxpayers pay for your heart transplant (I mean, putting one in).

US economyWest VirginiaMichael Tomasky
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