Is ANYONE worth this much money?

According to a recent Associated Press story, Exxon Mobil Corp. Chairman and CEO Lee Raymond, who recently retired, received a $69.7 million compensation package and $98 million pension payout. And according to a financial analysis by Brian Foley of The New York Times, Raymond was compensated more than $686 million by the oil giant from 1993 to 2005, which comes out to $144,573 per day of his employment.

Now I don't really want to get into the whole discussion of big oil executives defending their record profits and dodging questions of price gouging, although it is worth noting this in light of impending $3 per gallon gas prices. Also, I'm sure it's not an easy job to run a large multinational corporation. I'm sure other people have earned big money, Bill Gates, Microsoft founder, comes to mind. (Although I have to give Mr. Gates credit, as he has donated hundreds of millions of dollars to various charities, especially noteworthy are his donations to fight AIDS in the Third World--but I digress.)

Simply put, this amount of money is unfathomable to me (and, I hazard to guess, to most people). Most people I know make between $20,000 and $50,000 per year. Exxon Mobil's CEO made three times more money in a single day of work than most people in America (or the world) make in a year or more! Can you honestly imagine what it would be like to make $144,573 per day?!? You could buy a new house every day! Or two to three luxury cars every day! What else could someone do with this kind of money?

Just one day's worth of the Exxon Mobil's CEO pay could feed 18,071 people an $8 meal. (I wonder what kind of meal Halliburton could provide for $8 a plate? Digressing again, sorry.) Charity is good, but what about "teaching a man to fish" so he'll have fish to eat every day?

According to CNN, the cost of attending a four-year public university (including room and board) averaged $12,127 per year in 2005. At the Exxon Mobil's CEO pay rate, one month's salary could allow 357 students to attend college for a full year, or a year's worth of that salary could pay for 4,283 students to enrich their minds in college for a full year - imagine what they could do to improve the world!

I just realized I'm not really going anywhere with this post... Still, it boggles my mind. Is anyone truly worth $144,573 per day? I mean, really? Is anyone's knowledge or skill so god-like? And what does one do with that much money? I mean how many gold fixtures, summer homes, and recreational yachts can any one person really use anyway? Let's think about it... And there are people in the U.S. who go to bed hungry and uneducated every night. Think about it...