Unbelievable--but true
You've heard of golden parachutes? How about "golden coffins"?
Golden coffins are huge payments by corporations to the estates of top executives should they happen to die. The practice was brought to light recently by Amalgamated Bank, which has objected to payments that will be made to XTO Energy chairman Bob Simpson on his death. How much will the perhaps not-so-grieving heirs receive? About $144 million, including a $120 million "death bonus."
Amalgamated Bank owns some 165,000 shares of XTO, the Texas-based (of course) independent oil and gas exploration firm. They have filed a shareholder resolution objecting to the "golden coffin" payments. XTO, in opposing the resolution, terms the payments "the ultimate form of long-term incentives." Amagamated calls it "pay for no pulse."
I'm sure George W. Bush had something to do with this, if we only look hard enough. Memo to Obama: give Texas back to Mexico and half of America's problems will be solved.