Edwards attacks high CEO pay, big oil profits

[JohnLocke]

Edwards attacks high CEO pay, big oil profits
By Bill Rigby--Reuters
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
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NEW YORK - Democratic presidential contender John Edwards on Wednesday mounted an attack on excessive executive pay and soaring oil company profits, promising a series of moves that he said would "restore balance between America's corporations and America's working families."

In an opinion piece in The Wall Street Journal, the former Democratic senator from North Carolina said that if elected president he would cap untaxed chief executive pay, require companies to enroll employees in retirement plans and force firms to honor pension promises to workers, even in bankruptcy.

On the campaign trail in Burlington, Iowa, he tore into corporations profiting as crude oil hit a record above $100 a barrel, spicing up his message that corporate greed is crippling the U.S. middle class.

The opinion piece and oil rhetoric mark the most vehement challenge against corporations so far from Edwards, a former plaintiff's lawyer who specialized in suing U.S. companies.
(...)
"The problem is that the successes of our economy are no longer shared," wrote Edwards in the Journal opinion piece. "Forty percent of all economic growth over the past 20 years has gone to the top 1 percent of American families."

Chief executives now earn 400 times the average salary, according to Edwards, while the share of corporate profits going to CEO pay has doubled since the 1990s and the real value of the minimum wage has fallen.

CAP COMPENSATION
To counter the growing wage gap, Edwards said that as president, he would "immediately cap untaxed deferred compensation for executives."

He also promised measures to give shareholders the power to call shareholder meetings, remove directors and "have a say on executive pay."

He said he would also create "a new universal retirement account," requiring every company to automatically enroll its workers in some form of plan.

Edwards promised workers protection from companies that seek to offload pension obligations by going into bankruptcy.

"As president, I will ensure that corporations honor the pension promises they've made to workers, by giving workers a claim for lost pensions, just like lost wages," he said.

HITS AT OIL GIANTS
Edwards took time on the stump to swipe at oil companies, as the price of crude topped $100 a barrel for the first time.

"If you want to have some idea of what corporate greed is doing to America, well oil just hit $100 a barrel," Edwards said in a speech in his 16-stop tour of Iowa, which his campaign is calling a "36-hour marathon for the middle class."

"Exxon Mobil's profits last year were at record numbers," said Edwards. "At the same time, all of you know what you are paying for gasoline at the pump and it's not getting better."

Edwards also criticized drug and insurance companies, arguing that their search for profits has taken control of Washington through lobbyists and has strangled the middle class.
(...)
(Additional reporting by Kristina Cooke in New York, Matthew Bigg in Burlington, Iowa)
(Editing by Brian Moss)

http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssEnergyNews/idUSN0264756620080102?sp=true

[aquart]

1. He heard me.

[beberocks]

2. Go Edwards! I think most people are disgusted by CEOs big pay packages

And so many of these CEOs seem to only be able to run their companies into the ground. Just like Home Depot's CEO Nardalli (not sure of the spelling), didn't do anything good for the company but got a 200 MILLION dollar severance package. Too many board of directors are only interested in their pay packages--they screw the company, screw the employees, and screw the shareholders.

[avaistheone1]

4. I think most people are. I know I am.

John Edwards is our FDR.

[jillan]

3. Every hour on the hour!

[Flabbergasted]

5. kick