VirusHead

$400 Million retirement package huh?

I’m sure he deserved it also.

Well if Congressman can take our tax dollars for the rest of their lives without paying into a retirement, why can’t a corporation pay a former CEO $400 million? Since that has nothing to do with the price of a barrel of oil, I couldn’t care less if they wanted to pay him a $1 billion for a retirement package. The oil companies don’t set the price of oil, the market does.

“What luck for rulers, that men do not think”.-Adolph Hitler

Sigh. You sure have to work hard to miss the point, Scott.

The Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights released a new study yesterday that confirms that rising gasoline prices in California are because of “corporate markups and profiteering” not rising crude costs or the national switchover to higher-cost ethanol, as the oil industry claims.

Try doing some research into the background of your opinions. It would really help. For instance, this idea you have about Congress… well, it’s an urban legend. They do receive a bit more compensation for service than they would at the same salary in the corporate sector, but our salary structure is still pretty low for Congress. It’s a perk for their service. Here’s what it says at About.com:

Under a law enacted in 1983, all members of Congress both contribute to and receive benefits from the Social Security system. Upon retirement, members receive either a combination of federal pension and Social Security benefits or Social Security alone, depending upon when their term of service started and how they configured their individual plan.

Members elected after 1983 pay into the Federal Employees Retirement System. Members elected before 1983 participate in the older Civil Service Retirement Program. In both cases, members of Congress contribute to the plans at a slightly higher rate than ordinary federal employees.

As of 2002, 411 retired members were receiving benefits under CSRS at an average rate of $55,788 per year and 71 were receiving benefits under FERS (or a combination of CSRS and FERS) with $41,856 per year in average benefits. Members do not automatically received lifetime pensions. How much they receive and how long they receive it depends on many factors, including age, length of service (including military) and choice of plans, etc.

Also check out the pages I’ve linked at:
http://www.senate.gov
http://www.snopes.com

There is nothing stopping you from doing a little background research.

I don’t have to do research it is all done for me and just because one person gave his opinion on why the cost of California gasoline prices went up so high doesn’t mean that is the reason. I can do my own research and come up with the opposite answer he gave and I would be just as correct. You can believe that what that guy said was true, but I don’t believe it for a second.

I stand corrected, but it is still our tax dollars that will be funding their $40,000.00+ retirement. You can’t argue with that since it is our tax dollars paying thier $100,000.00 salaries in the first place.

My whole point was that it wouldn’t matter how much the CEO gets in retirement it wouldn’t have any effect on gasoline prices. The Oil companies don’t set the price of Oil.

Scott – It’s not some guy’s “opinion.” Read the whole study from The Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights – sheesh.

Yes – our taxes pay, just as they pay a lot of other things, like Veteran’s Benefits, for example. It’s a boondoggle, having nothing to do with the topic at hand.

What the CEO gets may or may not have any effect on prices, but things like that are a slap in the face when they are making millions of dollars a minute in record-breaking profits. Who is paying for their tax breaks, their obscene profits, etc? We are. Don’t kid yourself.