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Something under $400 million. Something less than the population of a small town or good size military bese would earn in a year.

I agree that it should be based on a company's performance. Usually competition is involved, except in industries like oil and utilities, where the parties simply agree to divide the pie.

Compare Raymond to Rick Wagner at GM. ExxonMobil sales and profits grew tremendously as Exxon acquired Mobil and prices went through the roof. Raymond basically was in the right place at the right time. It will take a minor miracle for Wagner to bring GM back because he is facing tremendous competition (primarily import), has tremendous "legacy" costs that put GM at a $1,500 per unit disadvantage against Toyota, currency exchange rates, the UAW, etc. Talk about having a deck stacked against you.

Also, it's important to remember that most of the members of the ExxonMobil board were appointed by Raymond.

If you don't grasp the significance of the military example, the parachute is the equivalent of a 10 cent surcharge on four BILLION gallons of gas.