The top 15 U.S. oil barons are paid 281% more than the avg. CEO compensation in comparably sized businesses.
$32.7 million per year on avg.
The top 15 pump profiteers are paid 518 times more than the average worker in the industry ( a desparity of 411 to 1)
The top 15 petro profiteers got an average raise of 50.2% of their 2004 pay packages. The annualized avg. hourly wage of production workers in the oil & gas industry increased by only 4.1% between '04 & '05 .
Top 3 highest paid oil cheiftains in 2005:
#1 William Greehey (valero)= $95.2 million
#2 Ray R. Irani (Occidential petroleum)= $84.0 million
#3 Lee Raymond ( ex CEO of Exxon Mobil)= $69.7 million
Construction laborers, the lowest paid workers in the petro industry, average $22,240 per year. It would take one of these workers 4,279 years to earn what CEO William Greehey of Valero earns in a year.
Average annual pay for :
Rotary drill operator =$43,450
Petro-chemical engineer =$107,990
www.faireconomy.com
2007-09-18 08:30:45 · 12 answers · asked by SKYDOG 3 in Politics & Government ➔ Government
Environmental destruction
Exploitation
Wars
Greed
You tell me if they're unethical?
2007-09-18 08:35:25 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 1⤋
CEOs are highly overpaid. It's a network. I'm an MBA student. I can tell you that they are not worth it. They do some terrible things to their company. They have no risk. It's ridiculous. When will the public wake up? When? Never? How much CEOs are paid are very much the business of the public because where do you think this money comes from? Who is paying the price? Don't most people have 401Ks and aren't most 401Ks invested in stocks? Most of these companies are publicly traded companies. The ignorance is astounding.
2007-09-18 16:29:10 · answer #2 · answered by Unsub29 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Yet they say its class warfare when you point out the inequities.
Never before has the balance between the exec and the worker been so exaggerated. And CEOs are not necessarily good for the company as the guy who ruined Home Depot can attest. By the way, hes employed at another big company for big bucks. Its an old boys club. Not based on ability or value at all.
The question is, is it unethical? To that I say that corporations have no ethics other than the ones they choose to adopt, or the ones that are forced on them by legislature. They are not sentient beings. It is inquitable, yes, but ethics do not apply in the same sense that it would to a human.
2007-09-18 15:38:27 · answer #3 · answered by justa 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Profits are okay provided it is in a free market and there have been no manipulaton of supplies, or price fixing or conspiracy among like providers.
if anything was done by fraud, lies and manipulation of the markets through government or supply manipulation then the profits are wrong. Oh yes it is wrong to give such large payouts to people who really do very little work and who hurt the company employees rather than help. it may do for short term stock values but that is short term and the cost if very high.
RRRR
2007-09-19 13:39:04 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes. But it is not just Big Oil: ALL Big Business, sports, movie stars; Media stars (Tom Brokaw, Katie Couric) and all the others; boss man running the Red Cross and all those other "charities".
In the '60s, the boss earned about 50 times as much as the workers; now it is several hundred times, as you have indicated.
Not only is this practice unethical, it is counter-productive and will eventually lead to civil unrest and an overthrow of the current "status quo".
2007-09-18 15:49:05 · answer #5 · answered by Nothingusefullearnedinschool 7 · 3⤊ 0⤋
I think it's total baloney for a teeny tiny fraction of people to make ridiculous amounts of money from NATURAL RESOURCES. It should belong to the citizens.
How 'bout that?
2007-09-18 16:18:07 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
They are privately owned businesses. They're not breaking any laws, and they are subject to all the benefits and pitfalls of our economy and basic business practice.
If they want to pay their CEO an incredible amount of money - it is their business. It does not belong to the American people. If they want to pay their workers the absolute minimum - they can. No one is forcing them to work there. If the they wanted to make CEO money - they should have gone to college like the CEO did!
2007-09-18 15:39:04 · answer #7 · answered by wh_johnny_05 2 · 1⤊ 4⤋
Yes.....in my opinion it is unethical. This is a necessity. They are entitled to profits and money for research and money for upgrades. Seems that profit isn't going enough to research and upgrades to where it is unethical.
2007-09-18 15:39:32 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
Any record profits of that magnitude made off of necessities is unethical.
2007-09-18 15:36:57 · answer #9 · answered by grumpyoldman 7 · 2⤊ 1⤋
It's pretty obvious that the definition of ethical has changed.
2007-09-18 16:12:55 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋