Prepare to be nauseated and jealous at the same time....


http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=1841989&page=1&gma=true&gma=true

Exxon Chairman Gets $400 Million Retirement Package Amid Soaring Gas Prices
Exxon Made Record Profits in 2005

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.

Copyright © 2006 ABC News Internet Ventures

Well that's just great.

Don't buy gas at Mobil...

I don't like people like that. There is no way at all anybody needs $51.1 million per year. I don't really consider myself in poverty, but I find it hard to get the $1200-ish I need per month to afford tuition [which is about 0.028% of his total income].

IMO, people with more money should help those that have less. Guess that makes me a communist, but I could sure use a bit of help now and then.

The thing is though, only people who have less feel that way....

theres few people that have more

Theres nothing wrong with having a lot of money but theres only so much you need to make 3-4 generations of your family financially secure before they are born before its too much

I am not saying that I completely disagree, just that the people who get money tend not be the generous type. But I figure if I was so rich, I would probably not be as generous as I should, I would probably get the mindset of "I worked for it, I deserve it..." whether I did or not...

It's ugliness all around.

Do I think this guy has more money than he knows what to do with? Yes. Do I think the oil industry is crooked? Yes. Do I think that at least a portion of this guy's millions were made unethically? I believe it's more probable than not.

However, the desire to be filthy rich and/or famous often leads to amazing innovations. If you take away that reward in this country (through higher taxes, windfall profit taxes, etc.), then that hurts our overall competitveness.

So, basically, I'd rather see some Joe Random beat the oil companies at their own game than Congress once again taking some of our rights away.

Fu@k big oil, fu@k them right in the ass! Who wants to find a way to sue him for a few $100,000, thats like $10 to us.
Anyone remember when Regular was $.85? I do. Thank god that my car gets a little under 30 mpg.
Did I mention that I really fu@king hate big oil?

He did a job that was worth money, and his employers paid him what they think is fair. If you want to get paid that much, then work hard to develop your business sense. Otherwise, stop bitching. When you dictate what is "too much" money for someone else to make, that's called communism.

Sounds like he earned it.

ZOMG! We're almost paying what the rest of the world pays for gas now! That's horrible! We're better than everyone else!

But the other places(ex Europe) have higher taxes that go towards public transportation, which is much better than most places in the US. Their gas prices are going up too as they buy oil at the same prices, or very close to the same, but charge more in taxes.

They also have some of the highest unemployment in the developed world.

If one compares gas prives with those in the past, we are STILL paying less than we were for most of history. though i dont like paying $2.6* a gallon as much as anyone else, i dont think its really anyones fault. theres just a confluence of factors right now contributing to higher prices: a carcinigenc additive being phased out, lack of ethanol refinement plants to replace it, outdated refineries, etc. if anything higher prices will spur more innovation, leading us to (finally) be less dependent on oil for transportation.