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8 - Orono Weekly Times Wednesday, March 10, 2010 Basic Black by Arthur Black Getting rich - an optical illusion The word of the day is "optics." My dictionary defines it as the branch of physics that studies the properties of light, but there's a trippier definition currently in circulation. "Optics" can stand for "public image." Rick Hansen: good optics. Tiger Woods: not so good optics. Then there's the Royal Bank of Canada. RBC spent a fortune during the recent Winter Olympics on ads showing what a caring, sharing and fiscally prudent company they are. Just the people you'd want to shepherd your hard-earned nickels and toonies wisely. Good optics. Unlike the story that appeared in the Globe and Mail - the one telling how Gord Nixon, chief executive of the Royal Bank of Canada got a paycheque for $10.4 million last year. Mister Nixon must be getting better at his job. He only managed to pull down $8.8 million the year before. Call me Chicken Little, but when I see the head teller of my bank raking in an annual salary worthy of a Saudi oil bandit I check to see if my wallet's still in my pocket. Thing is, Mister Nixon wasn't even RBC's biggest financial makeout meister. Mark Standish who runs RBC Capital Markets pocketed $14 million for 2009. Doug McGregor his co-pilot, had to make do with $13 million. So RBC's top three guys saw fit to steam shovel nearly $38 million into their own pockets for a year's work -- and they think I should invest my money with them???? Sorry, boys - bad optics. And lest you think this is the beginning of a Big Bad Banks rant, let me hasten to point out that not all Canadian banks are equal. Why, over at the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, the head honcho actually made $2 million less than he did a year previous. That's right -Gerry McCaughey, CIBC's chief executive, was forced to stumble through the year under a 25 percent pay cut. Don't send Mr. McCaughey a CARE package just yet. The CIBC treasury still managed to scrape up an annual stipend of $6.24 million to keep the wolf from the boss's door. Enron, Goldman Sachs, Bernie Madoff, Canada's own Earl Jones... the parade of corporate greedheads marches on, dragging their loot bags behind them. There was a time when such sackers and pillagers would have had the decency to at least wear an eye patch and a peg leg, but today they come at us in pinstripes and BMWs. Did you know by 12 noon of January 4th, Canada's top 100 CEO's had each earned the equivalent of Canada's average annual wage? That's right; by lunch time January 4th (Canada's first working day) our highest paid bosses had already pocketed $42,305 apiece -- 174 times more than the average Canadian working stiff. Money means different things to different people. H.L. Hunt opined that it really wasn't all that important. "Money's just a way of keeping score," Hunt said. You can say things like that when, like Hunt, you've got $800 million or so in the bank. He might be right though, because there has to be a limit to the toys and diversions a mortal can actually use. How do you justify a multimillion dollar salary when you see Haitian kids with flies in their eyes? And then there's Joshua Silver. He's no corporate wheeler-dealer, just a professor of physics at Oxford University. Still, he's arrived. He could spend the rest of his career turning out incomprehensible papers and sipping sherry with the dons. Instead he's working on refining his invention -Adspecs. They're eyeglasses - eyeglasses that will change the world we live in. Look around at all the people with specs on. Now imagine living in a land where all those folks are barefaced. They'd still need the glasses, you understand -they just couldn't afford to buy them. Experts reckon there are a billion people out there who are too poor to afford the corrective eyewear they need. That's where Joshua Silver's Adspecs come in. The eyeglasses he invented feature lenses filled with silicone which can be adjusted by syringes attached to the frames. Long story short, people who wear Adspecs can dial their own eye prescriptions to suit themselves, no optometrist, ophthalmologist or optician necessary. Doctor Silver could make himself a mega millionaire by charging top dollar for eyeglasses like that. Instead he's figuring out ways to make them cheaper. He's got the price down to $20 a pair, but he wants to get it down to just a dollar -- and then he hopes to donate boxcar loads of them to aid organizations around the world. He's already sent off more than 30,000 pairs to Africa. That's good optics. Royal Bank of Canada, please copy. Irish Beef and Potato Dinner This Irish-inspired, family-style dinner features Ontario potatoes, parsnips, carrots, onions and cabbage. Preparation Time: 15 minutes Cooking Time: 25 minutes Serves: 4 Ingredients: 4 Ontario Yukon Gold Potatoes (about 1-1/3 lb/650 g) 3 Ontario Parsnips (about 8 oz/250 g) Salt and pepper 12 oz (375 g) extra-lean ground Ontario Beef 1 Ontario Onion, chopped 1 tsp (5 mL) each dried thyme and Worcestershire sauce2 cups (500 mL) thinly shredded Ontario Cabbage 1 cup (250 mL) halved lengthwise and sliced Ontario Carrot 1/4 cup (50 mL) tomato paste 1 tbsp (15 mL) all-purpose flour 1-3/4 cups (425 mL) sodium-reduced chicken broth 1/2 cup (125 mL) frozen peas 1/4 cup (50 mL) warm milk 1 tbsp (15 mL) butter Preparation Instructions: Peel potatoes and parsnips; cut into chunks. In saucepan, cover potatoes and parsnips with cold water; bring to boil over high heat. Season with salt to taste. Reduce heat and boil gently for 15 minutes or until fork-tender. Meanwhile, heat large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add beef, onion, thyme and Worcestershire; cook stirring and breaking up beef with spoon, until beef is browned, about 5 minutes. Stir in cabbage and carrots. Whisk tomato paste and flour into broth; stir into skillet and bring to boil. Reduce heat, cover partially and simmer for 8 minutes or until vegetables are just-tender. Stir in peas and heat through, about 2 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Drain potatoes and parsnips; return to saucepan. Add milk and butter; mash until smooth. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Spoon large mound onto each plate; with back of spoon, make well in centre. Fill with beef mixture. Nutritional Information: 1 Serving Protein: 28.0 grams, Fat: 11.0 grams, Carbohydrates: 58.0 grams, Fibre: 6.0 grams, Calories: 434