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.
socialize compensation, socialize gas prices, pay euro-style gas taxes. can't have it both ways, sports fans.
And that payment method was functionally mandated by Clinton's 1993 budget which financially punished companies for not linking their executive pay to stock prices.
A little, but mostly it's uncomfortably similar to some of the comments on this thread, actually.
Well Bill Gates dropped out of college and he's the richest man in the world. If you graduated you have a better start then him.
A basic and necessary expense is rising to an uncomfortable level. People would rather blame someone than understand the problem. It's always easier to point a finger than do the research.
We few free-marketers have to stick together when we're in such a minority ... here at ... FreeRepublic??? =:-O
Well Bill Gates dropped out of college and he's the richest man in the world. If you graduated you have a better start then him.
It also helps if you're from a wealthy family and your mom sits on the board of United Way with the president of IBM....
I suppose that you might be on to something there.
I do know that in my former job I never saw anything even like a 4% raise since the late 80's.
A 7% profit margin looks pretty good these days in car manufacturing, airlines, and certain other industries as I understand things.
I guess that we agree on a lot, but we depart when it comes to the notion that the owners of a company should be getting less of a return of profits than do the workers.
I think that the owners should get more.
So what do you have against pizza companies, and why are you worried about newspaper coupons for pizza's?
It only seems fair. Your "gas" is pretty effusive on those threads.
Trade your econobox in for a bike this time.
I'd rather tar and feather some oil profiteers. Or their apologist lackeys.
Starts with an "F" and ends with an "O".......
Hope that helps.
It's capitalism, it's not supposed to be "fair." And this thing is global capitalism, so there are huge forces at work.
"Then you, sir, do not understand the capital markets and or risk/reward. Most execs would be FIRED for a 7% profit margin"
But then given a $20 Million severance right?
Yes, it is...and it is corrupting what was once a Conservative forum.
Buffett is far more interesting (and smarter-- in a weird kind of way) than Gates.
Since you obviously would rather live under Socialism, perhaps you should move.
I think I discovered the Republican Party's plan on gas prices!
1. Wait until November
2. Dems take Congress
3. Blame high gas prices on the Dems.
Its genius.
Notice the tagline. Since there is so much rampant populism and class envy apparent on this thread, I was just checking to see if anyone would actually openly agree with such an insane proposal. So far, luckily, no one has.
"Then you, sir, do not understand the capital markets and or risk/reward. Most execs would be FIRED for a 7% profit margin"
I just want you to say for the record a ceo deservedly makes 800 times more than a truck driver.
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