Phil Gramm: It Was an Outrage That “Exploited” AT&T CEO Got Only $75 Million at Retirement

Phil Gramm: “It Was an Outrage” That “Exploited” AT&T CEO Got Only $75 Million at Retirement

Phil Gramm, a former three-term Republican senator from Texas who once ran the Senate Banking Committee, told the House Financial Services Committee yesterday that “it was an outrage” that his friend Edward Whitacre, the CEO of AT&T, only got “$75 million” when he retired in 2007.

“If there’s ever been an exploited worker” it was Whitacre, said Gramm, testifying on the fifth anniversary of passage of the Dodd-Frank financial reform bill. Gramm appeared genuinely aggrieved by Whitacre’s shabby treatment and literally pounded the table while speaking.

Whitacre actually received a retirement package totaling $158 million.

Gramm is a classic example of what is wrong with American politics.

Oh we're crying buckets for him.
How can he possibly survive on a paltry $150 million?
Maybe he should check in to welfare programs and food stamps.
I would give anything to see the reaction of a case worker when they see how much he makes monthly.
Priceless, I'm sure.

I can imagine the dialogue:
Case Worker: Mr. Whitacre, do you realize what your monthly bring home pay is equivalent to what 3,500 average people make combined who apply for food stamps?
Whitacre: I can't afford to keep all 7 of my vacation homes and yacht properly stocked for my family and guests. Here, take it up with my lawyers, Mssrs Bender, Over and Rapem.

How is that poor man expected to live out his golden years on a paltry retirement of 158 million? That poor man will be forced to live in a cardboard box and eat cat food to survive. It's class warfare plain and simple taking advantage of the poor wealthy.

a reply to: Blackmarketeer

This Phil Gramm character...

I have to admit, I know next to nothing about the man. His history as a politician is not known to me in the least, I have no idea how his record sits with those who may have voted for him in elections, funded his career, or indeed how good he was to his mother.

What I do know, is that for a gentleman who believes that the ire directed toward persons he calls "successful" and that most everyone else calls "entitled, soft handed, work shy, effort dodging suit jockeys who would rather put their genitalia through a garlic press, than do a days honest work", represents a form of bigotry which has thus far gone unaddressed, unlike so many others, well....

All I can say is, that if his belief is that the successful are hated without excuse, the worst thing he can come out with, is to suggest that anyone who has ever been paid 75 MILLION dollars, even been paid that much over a LIFETIME, has been, or even understands the real meaning of the term, exploited. It is total, and utter waffle of this sort, which draws people toward the ire he protests so bitterly about. Frankly speaking, his statement in the video is evidence that some people will never understand the real world worth a damn.

A reminder:

The real world is peopled by the powerless, the penniless, the stretched and the strapped. The world which is inhabited by the likes of Phil Gramm's friends however, is not the real world, but an imaginary overlay that they create for themselves, to justify their massive greed, and their self indulgent and deluded view of their own importance and monetary worth.

What never fails to astonish me is that even the doublewide dwelling conservatives, living on foodstamps and govt. commodities support this mindset. They think and we have seen the comment.....

"Well, he must have worked his ass off the get where he is so he deserves this severance package"


CEOs don't work...they make deals while playing golf at a country club that most ordinary conservatives wouldn't even be allowed in the locked front gate.

Deja vu feeling. Have we not been here before. Every presidential election since Reagan. The big issues of today are still the same, sympathy for Wall Street CEO's and the bodies of women. Meanwhile, in real life, I have a nephew who is a Afghan vet and suicidal. A son who just spent years and thousand of dollars on college, worked full time. He was offered a minimum wage job with "promises". A son-in-law who has deserted my granddaughter financially. Etc,etc,......

He is one of the US leaders that guided in the country into the poor economic situation we have today.

a reply to: Blackmarketeer

So the good people of Texas voted this man into the House and the Senate over 23 years that represented... one man. Texans gave him 23 years on their dime and he got passionate over one man.

Here is what he said in its entirety, not a cobbled up edited video.

youtu.be...

Somehow I don't think that CEO was ever exploited.

And this guy complaining.... whatever.

a reply to: Blackmarketeer

Amazing.

Oh Yes, the CEO of AT&T was 'exploited'.

Sure.

He only made 365 times the amount the average worker made that year..

Oh well, like a very wise man told me recently, if the system had been set up that way for many of us, we'd be taking advantage as well.

~Tenth

originally posted by: Bluntone22
Here is what he said in its entirety, not a cobbled up edited video.

youtu.be...

Yup.

we have yet another phony trumped up out of context topic.

good find.

I love it.

Here's the full statement:

GRAMM: It’s the one form of bigotry that is still allowed in America, and that’s bigotry against the successful … My friend Ed Whitacre at AT&T, if there’s ever been an exploited worker, even though they made a big deal about him getting $75 million when he retired, the man added billions of dollars of value, he was exploited, it was an outrage!

Changes nothing - he's still "outraged" at his exploited friend and AT&T CEO Ed Whitacre. "Bigotry against the successful..." sheesh.

a reply to: Blackmarketeer

And Gramm said that with a great big smile on his face.

It's fantastic indeed.



I wonder now what the Committee will do?

originally posted by: Blackmarketeer
Here's the full statement:

GRAMM: It’s the one form of bigotry that is still allowed in America, and that’s bigotry against the successful … My friend Ed Whitacre at AT&T, if there’s ever been an exploited worker, even though they made a big deal about him getting $75 million when he retired, the man added billions of dollars of value, he was exploited, it was an outrage!

Changes nothing - he's still "outraged" at his exploited friend and AT&T CEO Ed Whitacre. "Bigotry against the successful..." sheesh.

Title of article:
" Former GOP Sen. Phil Gramm: “It Was an Outrage” That “Exploited” AT&T CEO Got Only $75 Million at Retirement "

Backing into the hyperbole.

Excellent twist technique.

But I agree the guy was probably only worth 40 million.

originally posted by: Bluntone22
Here is what he said in its entirety, not a cobbled up edited video.

youtu.be...

I doubt it'll make a difference. People would rather take everything out of context and continue to be upset instead of getting all the facts.

They'll whine about this CEO but I don't see anyone whining about celebrities who make as much if not more.

People act like if the folks at the top weren't getting all this money, it would go somewhere more useful. That's a pipe dream.

originally posted by: Answer

originally posted by: Bluntone22
Here is what he said in its entirety, not a cobbled up edited video.

youtu.be...

I doubt it'll make a difference. People would rather take everything out of context and continue to be upset instead of getting all the facts.

They'll whine about this CEO but I don't see anyone whining about celebrities who make as much if not more.

People act like if the folks at the top weren't getting all this money, it would go somewhere more useful. That's a pipe dream.

I paid $8 for a movie ticket this week just so Tom cruise can make 20 million. What a greedy jerk!
How's that? Lol

It was actually post tax 158.5 million dollars, $40,000 per year for country club dues, $12,000 per year vehicle lease, 10 hours per month on a company jet, and health care for life.

As everybody keeps texting over the airwaves owned by AT&T.

Ironic.

It's a corporate masterpiece !!

GRAMM: "It’s the one form of bigotry that is still allowed in America, and that’s bigotry against the successful"

originally posted by: Bluntone22

originally posted by: Answer

originally posted by: Bluntone22
Here is what he said in its entirety, not a cobbled up edited video.

youtu.be...

I doubt it'll make a difference. People would rather take everything out of context and continue to be upset instead of getting all the facts.

They'll whine about this CEO but I don't see anyone whining about celebrities who make as much if not more.

People act like if the folks at the top weren't getting all this money, it would go somewhere more useful. That's a pipe dream.

I paid $8 for a movie ticket this week just so Tom cruise can make 20 million. What a greedy jerk!
How's that? Lol

I don't know what Cruise is worth, but as a union sag_afTra and iATSE, making movies is hard damn work. Try being an extra to get experience.