Wednesday, April 11, 2007

House committee asks oil firm CEOs to explain why gas might soon cost $4 per gallon






<--Here is the answer.


Results of “Executive Excess 2006,” the thirteenth annual chief executive officer compensation survey by the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS).

Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH), chairman of the Domestic Policy Subcommittee, has sent a letter to the CEOs of seven major oil companies demanding to know why gas prices could soon climb to $4 a gallon.

Kucinich, whose committee oversees the Department of Energy, is asking top oil executives what role their companies play in the record high prices of gasoline.

"We seek to learn how the realities of decreasing refinery capacity, decreasing gasoline inventories, rising oil company profitability and increasing market concentration in the oil industry may be the root cause of new record-high gasoline prices," Kucinich said in a statement. More on the story.

Two top oil companies donors for 2006: Exxon Mobil and Chevron. Exxon Mobil donated 90% to the GOP and Chevron donated 86% to the GOP.



See here.

In the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS):

CEOs of the biggest defense contractors continue to profit
from a privatized war

Since the “War on Terror” began, the CEOs of the top 34 defense
contractors have enjoyed average pay levels that are double the
amounts they received during the four years leading up to 9/11. Their
average compensation jumped from $3.6 million during the pre-9/11
period of 1998-2001 to $7.2 million during the post-9/11 period of
2002-2005.


The highest-paid defense executive was George David of United
Technologies, who hauled in more than $200 million during the period
2002 to 2005. Meanwhile, David is suing the Pentagon to keep
the public from seeing documents about alleged problems with its
Black Hawk helicopters.

The largest post-9/11 total pay increase went to Health Net CEO Jay
Gellert, whose managed care services for military personnel and their
families is booming thanks to the Iraq War.

Halliburton CEO David Lesar made $26.6 million last year, despite
a continuing stream of scandals related to the company’s work in
Iraq, the latest being reports that the contractor infected soldiers with
contaminated wastewater. While Halliburton’s future Iraq work is
uncertain, Lesar will enjoy the nearly $50 million he has made since
the “War on Terror” began.

Oil-Greased Paychecks

While ordinary Americans are forking over upwards of $3 for a gallon of gas,
15 distinctly unordinary Americans—the CEOs of the largest U.S. oil industry
companies—are celebrating their biggest paychecks on record. These CEOs last
year took home an average $32.7 million in compensation—518 times more
than average oil industry workers in 2005. (see Appendix 3 for details)

The Oil Barons’ take even far exceeded their excessively paid counterparts at
other leading U.S. firms. Their $32.7 million average pay was 181 percent
higher than the average of $11.6 million for CEOs at 350 large corporations
surveyed by the Wall Street Journal.56

The three highest-paid U.S. oil chieftains in 2005: William Greehey of Valero
Energy ($95.2 million), Ray R. Irani of Occidental Petroleum ($84 million), and
Lee Raymond, outgoing CEO of ExxonMobil ($69.7 million). The lowest-paid
major U.S. oil executive: Chad Deaton, CEO of Baker Hughes ($6.6 million).


3 comments:

Anonymous said...

A cap on CEO/CFO/COO pay, like making only 20 times more than your average employee, or even 30 or 40 times more would really cut their pay so the rest of us don't have to pay for it.

airJackie said...

The increase in oil prices has never been about anything but greed. If Iran coughs that's a reason. Oil prices are low prices are high do the math. Share holders and CEO aren't interested in what anyone thinks and Bush is behind them 150 per cent. Money is being made or stolen and that's what this Administration was put in office to do rob the American people.

Anonymous said...

We all pay for these big salaries, all of us.