$36 billion in profits + $3/gallon gas = $400 million retirement package
ABC News: Exxon Chairman Gets $400 Million Retirement Package Amid Soaring Gas Prices
Los Angeles Business from bizjournals: Central Coast area see $3 gas
Honestly...When are we going to say enough is enough? I could understand the price hikes if gas companies were barely breaking even, but they're not. Exxon posted earnings of $36 billion last year. The highest yearly earnings in US history for ANY company.
In one of my classes this week we discussed revolution and change in society and what it would take for the American people to stand up against the giants who are looting our freedom and bank accounts. On of my classmates hypothesized that we would not see an real movements until "the middle class becomes the poor" Will $3 gas be the catalysts bringing the middle class to boil? Probably not. They'll just accumulate more debt, in the world of VISA, MASTERCARD, DISCOVER, and AMEX its easier just to swipe it an forget it than to write your Congressmen, or boycott a particular company, or gas in general (ride a bike, the bus, car pool- all legitimate options that most of us including myself would be too inconvenienced to use). Trough is we may not even realize we've been cooked until its too late. A professor of mine uses the example of the boiled frog: "If you drop a frog into boiling water it will immediately leap away, but if you put it into cool and pleasant water and slowly raise the temperature until the water is boiling the frog will not realize until it's too late."
Are we nothing more than ignorant frogs? Can't we see the carrots, and potatoes, and celery being added to our soup? Prices are going up but wages are staying about the same; corporations are slashing retirement benefits for workers yet rewarding CEO's (the airline industry is most guilty of this). Maybe its too hard for use to imagine, or we feel to alienated to do anything about it, maybe high gas prices don't fuel as much passion as Abortion, Immigration and Gay Rights debates.
Who knows...
Oh and in case you were wondering about that cake retirement package I alluded to...
"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." - ABC news
posted by unrestrained @ 2:30 PM
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1 Comments:
So you can do your math... now get the real facts on this story at NewsBusters - “CBS and ABC played to petty jealousies on Thursday night. Both aired silly stories which contrasted the large retirement package, earned by former ExxonMobil Chairman and CEO Lee Raymond, with the average retiree income or the burden rising gas prices supposedly put on a typical family. CBS Evening News anchor Bob Schieffer announced: “The average American enters the golden years -- retirement -- expecting to live on less than $30,000 a year, and that includes Social Security. Well, it turns out to be a little more golden than that if you run a big oil company,” as if it's news that a successful executive, just like a network anchor, would retire with more than the average income. Reporter Anthony Mason proceeded to hype the biggest number possible -- “Lee Raymond is being rewarded in his retirement with a breathtaking package worth nearly $400 million” -- though that counts stocks and options which will take years to amass. Mason concluded by pointing out how Raymond made $190,000 a day in 2005 while “the average American worker...earns $43,000 a year." The Washington Post reported that Raymond may just get $8 million a year for his pension -- half what CBS will pay Katie Couric to read a tele-prompter for a half hour a night.” Here's the link: http://newsbusters.org/node/4906
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