The nature of who's steering the ship as revealed by indicators...

The nature of who's steering the ship as revealed by indicators such as how deep they got their hand in the till and  who else is onboard are good indicators to use when assessing the risks, to extend the metaphor what sort of seas are you going to cross,  semiconductor straits has swallowed a lot of vessels. 
You look at it as the Captain reckons he could be getting this sort of pay on a cruise liner visiting silicon valley islands,  so why should he take a pay cut here and with regard to why are all the other passangers in rags : ) The billionaires dont like choppy seas.