Gas Prices
Exxon Mobil, aided by strong energy prices, disclosed Monday that it had set a record for profits among American companies, reporting $36 billion in annual income. But while most companies would be proud to trumpet record profits, Exxon Mobil did everything it could to play down the news. I'd like to know how they plan on playing down the price we see at the pumps, while they have overtaken Wal-Mart as the most profitable company in the world, grossly overpaid their now ex-CEO, and grossed more profit last year than the GDP of Indonesia (The world's 4th most populous country).
Shareholders benefited handsomely on Lee Raymond's watch. The price of Exxon's shares rose an average of 13 percent a year. The company, now known as Exxon Mobil, paid $67 billion in total dividends.For his efforts, Mr. Raymond, who retired in December, was compensated more than $686 million from 1993 to 2005, according to an analysis done for The New York Times by Brian Foley, an independent compensation consultant. That is $144,573 for each day he spent leading Exxon's "God pod," as the executive suite at the company's headquarters in Irving, Tex., is known. At $144k per day, I guess I wouldn't mind paying $2.85 for regular unleaded either. I guess I wouldn't care much about the price of anything that I might need.
posted by John Good @ 9:04 PM
8 Comments:
Makes one sick.
Yeah, it's a real piss-off that people can work hard and succeed. Spits right in the face of communism doesn't it?
Can anyone honestly say that they would turn down a job offer like that? I sure as shit wouldn't.
FURTHERMORE, this whole "Price Gouging" conspiracy is total crap if you look at it on paper. Let's do the math:
Hypothetically speaking, a company wants to earn 15% on every dollar it invests (seems modest, but that's about right for 'Big Oil'):
So, invest $1.00 in one widget and sell it for $1.15, your profit is $0.15. Pretty simple, right? Right.
Now, your cost (due to demand and unimaginable other influences) goes up to $2.00 (that's a 100% increase in COST, which is HUGE). You need to sell the gas for $2.30 to make your same 15% GPM (Gross Profit Margin).
At the end of the year, you still only made a gross profit of 15% even though your overhead and sell-for prices went through the roof.
So, multiply that by BILLIONS and you'll get the big picture. SO, the humanists and hippies like to say:
"Yeeeah man, but who needs that much profit? That's just greeeed man."
No, that is pressure being applied to the companies by their shareholders...
Who are the shareholders? You...me...everyone who invests in their retirement. Big "Blue-Chip" stocks like Exxon are under INTENSE pressure all the time to make their minimum profit goals for the year so that 401k, Mutual Funds, Pension Plans etc prosper and YOU AND I can make some reasonable gains toward our retirement investments. SO, not only does the PUBLIC dictate the price by what they are willing to pay at the pumps, they also dictate them through the back door by demanding stocks to perform better and better every year. This is an American problem, not a Lee Raymond or Exxon problem. We have made this monster and more just like it...
I have nothing against hard work and succeeding from it, I am living proof of how far one can come by hard work!
But CEO pay, across the board, is WAY out of line! Theses assholes aren't worth even a fraction of what many of them are paid. Their out-of-sync salaries and bonuses just get added to the cost of the end products, and WE end up paying for their unearned wealth.
I don't need to pay for the CEO's out of the atmosphere bonus checks. That is pure unadulterated bullshit. I am not a stockholder in Exxon, far from it as I refuse to let my financial advisor invest in any Oil stocks based on principle. Like all americans I have to purchase gas inorder to make it to and from work daily.It's like home heating oil..you either pay the price or freeze to death..your choice right?
So Dusty, are you suggesting that the government needs to get back into the regulation game instead of letting the free market dictate the prices? That's never proven to work very well, except for VERY short-term results. The long-term implications (to the economy and else-wise) are always catastrophic at worst, stagnating at best. This basically translates to: best case scenario, gas prices get frozen where they are. Worst case scenario, the oil companies just say "fuck it" and close up shop. What's your choice?
Are you also suggesting that since you choose not to invest your money in oil stock, you are somehow innocent of supporting them through the front-door of their operations by purchasing gas? That's just insane...and I don't care who you blame it on. I understand that gas is necessary, which makes a great argument for investing in the companies that manufacture the shit. At least if you were invested in oil stock-wise, you would literally be taking money from your left pocket and moving it to your right pocket. As it sits now, you are just giving your money to them gratis.
As far as home heating oil goes, that's just stupid to even say out loud..."freeze to death." LMFAO.
How about, switch to electric heat? Now was that so hard to say? Let's try to solve some problems instead of just bitching.
John,
Who are you to say what pay is out of line? Even if you evaporated that guy's salary and gave it back to gas consumers, we'd all get less than half a dollar back PER YEAR. Big f'n deal...he can keep it. I don't need a soda that badly, to take away a guys career who has obviously invested his whole life in getting where he is.
ADK
I stand by my comment. Most CEO's are grossly overpaid for their contribution to a company's profits.
Executive pay ratio around the world relative to worker pay.
Germany 12 to 1
Japan 11 to 1
France 12 to 1
Italy 20 to 1
Canada 20 to 1
South Africa 21 to 1
Great Britain 22 to 1
Hong Kong 41 to 1
Mexico 47 to 1
In the USA an executive makes 475 times the average worker's salary.
This is why the bottom 80 percent of the nation's household control only control 17% of the nation's wealth.
(nods out to Torpor and PBS)
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