Former eBay CEO Meg Whitman spent $178 million on her 2010 campaign for governor of California, $144 million of her own money, more than any other candidate in US history. And yet voters rejected her, choosing Democrat Jerry Brown instead.

So unable to impose austerity on all of California, she's instead doing it at Hewlett-Packard, where eight months into her tenure as CEO she just announced the company would lay off 27,000 workers. HP recently reported quarterly profits of $1.6 billion on revenue of $30.7 billion, down from the same quarter last year, but higher than analysts had projected. But despite helping HP earn a profit, those 27,000 workers have to be let go, because apparently that's what successful executives do.