EXXON CHAIRMAN GETS $400 MILLION RETIREMENT PACKAGE AMID SOARING GAS PRICES

ABC News via Drudge ^

[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.

[Blzbba]

"And of course we know that if the oil companys were slapped with a windfall tax, the price of gas would shoot up, and the slime bags in Washington would never roll back the tax. Further, you can bet that the tax would be used to fund yet even more pork crap... "



And yet, the latest Energy Bill actually gives billions in subsidies TO Big Oil!

Because Big Oil NEEDS more of our money!!

LOL!!

[B-Chan]

Talent deserves reward, but that kind of money should only go to people who can do things that nobody else can do, like curing polio or hitting major-league fastballs. But for shuffling paper? No one who shuffles paper and makes phone calls all day deserves that kind of money, and I say that as a person who works behind a desk. I'll bet you a dozen donuts that if Fat Boy hadn't shown up at work at all last year the company would have been just as profitable.

As a business owner myself, I will tell you flat out that most high-level executives and managers are superfluous and unnecessary for the success of a given company. They are parasites. That's why our family business has none. Guys like this should be fired and their vast salaries used for capital improvement, investment, and for raises for the people who really do the work.

The older I get, the more I realize that the basic structure of corporate law in America is screwy. As long as you have a business structure where a cadre of jaded mandarins (management) and clueless outsiders (stockholders) lord it over a mass of disposable peons (wage laborers), the suckups, asswipes, and pirates are always going to end up on top. The only just way to organize a private business is for the employees to own and control the company, either as partners or through some sort of ESOP plan. After all, the employes own equity in the company (in the form of time spent on the job) and expose themselves to greater risk than do mere cash shareholders; why should they be denied a return on their investment of blood and sweat?

And don't even bother calling me a communist. I'm a business owner and I'm not talking about state ownership of anything. I'm talking about rewriting corporate laws here so that all businesses are 100% owned by their employees, either as direct partnerships or employee stockholders, who then work and compete with other businesses in an open market.

Free enterprise works better when the people who produce the wealth own the enterprise. Guys like this produce nothing. They are just a clique of lampreys in ties sucking the producers of real wealth dry.

[SteveMcKing]

"I didn't. I just recognize that it's not simple."

In what respect?

"But I suspect you already knew that."

The only simplicity I suspect is that you value emotions over judgement -- feelings over reason.

[SteveMcKing]

"If I were a member of the Board,"

This qualifies your arguments very well. If and when it becomes a reality, then those views could matter greatly.

[yellowdoghunter]

"I can't believe some people actually think a person is worth this kind of money." Exxon does. "Do people really believe the job he is doing is worth that kind of money?" Exxon does.

The people of Exxon is who I was referring too...

This just gives the Democrats an opportunity to use that same old line they always use, "When Republicans are in charge, big business rakes in all the profits while the working man is left out in the cold".

And when people see things like that, they find it hard not to believe.

[SteveMcKing]

I agree the exploitation value is tremendous. It even works here.

[yellowdoghunter]

Correct. Whether we agree or disagree with it, it is a great PR campaign for the Democrats. And that is what elections are won and lost on.

[Naptowne]

I mean no offense, but I really cannot understand most of that last post either. I don't think it is the result of any shortcoming on my part. Where did I write "Oil companies?" Did I make a capitalization error somewhere on the thread?

Oil companies are a major reason why there are high gasoline prices. Gasoline and oil are obviously a more efficient form of fuel than the other fuel sources you named, otherwise they wouldn't be used. Perhaps instead of "oil companies" you should write "oil" or "gasoline," because those fuels are what makes various tasks less costly. The few oil companies that are essentially a cartel (or a front for one) make it much more expensive to do business because they and their friends at OPEC artificially inflate the price of the commodity because they control all of it. They also lobby against the development of alternative fuel such as ethanol/gasoline hybrids because it is less profitable, and they cannot pretend that ethanol is a rare commodity as easily as they can pretend that crude oil is.

[fhlh]

DNC "Virtual Campaigners" <--- I like that... Is that kinda like Rush's "Seminar Callers"?

[sully777]

Fact: AIE states commercial oil supplies are at seven-year high Remember that fact as you read the stories below culminating with LEe Raymond's testimony...

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Compare and click this source"...Strong commodity markets have attracted institutional and retail investors, who tend to buy for the long term.

The most straightforward way for these investors to access raw materials, ranging from base metals to oil, is through commodity indexes, led by Goldman Sachs Commodity Index and the Dow Jones-AIG Commodity Index.

These major indexes have grown to more than $80 billion, though the precise impact on oil markets is hard to judge..." Click here and recall that speculation is fueling the market. Also recall Goldman Sach's et al speculation of $110-200 a barrel set into motion a speculation frenzy)

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Fact: Dec. 20, 2005 (Click here) JUNEAU, Alaska (AP)- An antitrust lawsuit filed against Exxon Mobil Corp. and BP PLC claims the two oil giants are restricting the nation's supply of natural gas and keeping prices at record highs..."

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(GMA-ABCNews) 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.

[abercrombie_guy_38]

[b]Time for the Free Traders to chime in and insist that Exxon is just a buncha good ole boys never meanin' no harm, and that we should be glad to pay whatever they ask for gas because they're shining examples of the capitalist ideal.[/b][br]
[br]
So true! Best post on the whole thread. I'd love to see some of these people paying $5, $6, $7 for a gallon of gas. That attitude will change real quick.

Gas prices doubled since last year, give or take a few months. If they double by next year, you will be paying $6 a gallon.

[abercrombie_guy_38]

SteveMcKing has a lot of time on his hands. Perhaps he works for an oil company?

Sorry for my previous failed attempt to use HTML, too.

[sully777]

Sorry for my previous failed attempt to use HTML, too.

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On html, you used [ ] nstead of < >
Example

[b]Time for the Free Traders to chime in and insist that Exxon is just a buncha good ole boys never meanin' no harm, and that we should be glad to pay whatever they ask for gas because they're shining examples of the capitalist ideal.[/b][br] [br] should be

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Time for the Free Traders to chime in and insist that Exxon is just a buncha good ole boys never meanin' no harm, and that we should be glad to pay whatever they ask for gas because they're shining examples of the capitalist ideal.