I am not a chess fan, but when I heard about the retirement package of Exxon's outgoing CEO, Lee Raymond, I couldn't help but think of a better analogy than this one. In our society, there are Kings, and there are Pawns.
In chess, I am told that the side with the normal King will win every King-and-Pawn endgame. I really don't know what this means (and don't care to know), but it has become very clear that Wall Street and their CEO buddies are the Kings, and the rest of us are Pawns.
Now, I am not going to blame just Lee Raymond, GE's Jack Welch has a retirement package that would make most plumbers or teachers throw up as well. But as consumers pay $200 million dollars a day more in fuel costs than they did this time last year, how in the world can Exxon justify paying Lee Raymond a retirement package of $400,000,000.
If we are to accept the fact that world oil demand is responsible for the high cost of oil, then Raymond had absolutely nothing to do with Exxon's enormous $36 billion in profits. In fact, the company's profits were driven by market forces and not the great management skills of its CEO.
In medieval days, Kings were highly protected and insulated. In Raymond's retirement package, Exxon's board has given this King two years of home security, personal security guards, a car and a driver, and use of a corporate jet. For lunch money, Exxon also gave Raymond a $1 million consulting fee.
Tell me when you are about to throw up and I'll stop. Even Jay Leno jumped on the bandwagon last night saying that Lee Raymond's retirement package was worth over $140,000 per day.
You really can't blame Lee Raymond; if we were in his shoes we would probably accept the package too. On the other hand, I would take $70,000 a day, and donate the other half to the many millions in our nation who do not have heath insurance.
OTHER CEO's MILKING THE WALL STREET COW
** Information provided by Insiderscoop.com
KNIGHT, PHILIP H.: NIKE INC: 5635 Transactions worth $1,827,218,300
BRIN, SERGEY: GOOGLE: 2540 Transactions worth $616,419,656
SCHMIDT, ERIC E.: GOOGLE: 20,608 Transactions worth $431,132,270
MCGUIRE, WILLIAM W.: UNITEDHEALTH GROUP: 17 Transactions worth $135,930,000
I could go on and on, but I just wanted to give you a small sample of what I have been seeing.
This is the very reason I think investors should be very cautious when taking advice from analysts who have investment banking relationships with various companies. With the investment banks making record profits, they can only make those enormous profits if corporations agree to investment banking deals.
