Posted on 04/14/2006 1:20:10 PM PDT by aShepard
April 14, 2006— Soaring gas prices are squeezing most Americans at the pump, but at least one man isn't complaining.
Last year, Exxon made the biggest profit of any company ever, $36 billion, and its retiring chairman appears to be reaping the benefits.
Exxon is giving Lee Raymond one of the most generous retirement packages in history, nearly $400 million, including pension, stock options and other perks, such as a $1 million consulting deal, two years of home security, personal security, a car and driver, and use of a corporate jet for professional purposes.
Last November, when he was still chairman of Exxon, Raymond told Congress that gas prices were high because of global supply and demand.
"We're all in this together, everywhere in the world," he testified.
Raymond, however, was confronted with caustic complaints about his compensation.
"In 2004, Mr. Raymond, your bonus was over $3.6 million," Sen. Barbara Boxer said.
That was before new corporate documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission that revealed Raymond's retirement deal and his $51.1 million paycheck in 2005. That's equivalent to $141,000 a day, nearly $6,000 an hour. It's almost more than five times what the CEO of Chevron made.
"I think it will spark a lot of outrage," said Sarah Anderson, a fellow in the global economy program at the Institute for Policy Studies, an independent think tank. "Clearly much of his high-level pay is due to the high price of gas."
Exxon defends Raymond's compensation, pointing out that during the 12 years he ran the company, Exxon became the largest oil company in the world and that the stock price went up 500 percent.
A company spokesman said the compensation package reflected "a very long and distinguished career."
Some Exxon shareholders are now trying to pass resolutions criticizing the company's executive pay policies. The company is urging other shareholders to vote against those resolutions.
Yes, we are a capitalist economy, which is great, but, how many times have we heard of executives being compensated at ridiculous levels, running companies into the ground and then escaping with golden parachutes? That's wrong in anyone's book, and they should be horsewhipped for playing the game that way. If you force all your employees to lose because you made bad decisions, you should feel the pain as well, other than your country club dues being no longer paid for by the company.
Hey all you cry babies- this is a private company. There is nobody forcing you to buy their product. So stop whining, and set an Exxon dividend reinvestment program for yourself. I wish I had started earlier.
Here's the link:
https://gateway.equiserve.com/igwweb/content/secure/companylist/index_complist_new.asp?PurchOption=
Don't be so hard on yourself. It's obvious you ARE 'out there', but I'm trying to give you the benefit of the doubt. I S T H I S S L O W E N O U G H F O R Y O U?..lol
Spring. It happens every year.
jenny is cool.....but she her sarcasm and profound thought need a bit a reflection...(maybe more by contex)
"The reason that gas sells for nearly same amount is that it is nearly the same product from one station to the next and there is no practical difference to the consumer. Since they all advertise their price on large signs, any store which sells for a lower price gets more customers. The result is that all area stores quickly equalize prices to the lowest amount which is still high enough to make a profit."
You've just defined price fixing.
Sometimes it seems like the conservative movement is a very diverse, strange-bedfellow kind of coalition. :-)
Also the fact that I don't have to buy a new computer every 300 miles. I can't believe people are comparing this guy to Oprah and baseball players.
Ridiculous excuse
Oh, it's obvious isn't it? The stock going up leaps and bounds since the 60's, and now $400m bonuses while the rest of the economy pays for it...
It's all FREE TRADE RIGHT??
Oh yeah? A well known Communist front. Who funds them, I'm curious, now that the Big Daddy USSR who used to do it is dead?
Spring. It happens every year.
They're also in the process of switching from MTBE to ethanol as an additive.
What you say is true. Fortunately, that doesn't appear to be the case here. The company grew 500% under Mr. Raymond's tenure, and just made $36 billion last year.
dura...shhhh...please don't let ConTex in on that one. He isn't aware of that yet...lol
Oh, of course it's the ethenol that means gas is $3 a gallon now instead of $1.25 5 years ago.
Chart's great!
What did Raymond contibute to it??
What did Chavez contribute to it??
What Did Omar-biz-allataah-bin ormma-al-Zqazahha contribute to it??
The press hasn't covered it nearly enought. Maybe because it's chemistry. But it is interesting for a lot of reasons that have nothing to do with the price of gas.
You ARE learning, albeit slowly. This may take a while!
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