Sunday, September 8, 2019

Houston, Texas-Based Pipeline Company Buckeye Partners LP's Top-Tier Executives Average Pay Raise Was a Very Clean, Off-the-Charts 60.9% Per Year During the Past Ten Years (2009-2018)

The third Democratic 2020 Presidential candidate televised debate will be held in Houston, Texas on September 12, 2019.  Texas is also the home state of Julian Castro and Beto O'Rourke, who have both gained significant momentum in the past month.

The key issue to Texas citizens should be the huge and continuing Income Inequality Expansion which is at the core of many critical problems the US faces.

Thus I will be doing research and making posts on the average pay raise per year that the Top-Tier Executives of large Texas Companies were rewarded with in the past ten years.  I completed my study of large Texas Non-Oil &  Companies and now I have started studying large Texas Oil & Gas Companies. 

The 32nd Texas Oil & Gas Company I am addressing here is Buckeye Partners LP.

From annual compensation information contained in Company Proxy Statement and 10-K filings with the US SEC, the chart at the very bottom below shows Buckeye Partners LP's Top-Tier Executives Annual Total Compensation for each of two consecutive full years of employment for the past ten years.
  
Buckeye Partners Top-Tier Executives Average Pay Raise was a very clean, off-the-charts 60.9%
 per year for the past ten years, which is the 4th highest of the 32 large Texas Oil & Gas Companies I have addressed so far.
  1. Cheniere Energy Inc +141.9% per year for the past ten years
  2. Kinder Martin +115.8% per year for the past ten years
  3. Parsley Energy +72.8% per year for the past six years.
  4. Buckeye Partners +60.9% per year for the past ten years
  5. Diamondback Energy +52.9% per year for the past seven years
  6. Targa Resources +46.9% per year for the past ten years
  7. Enlink Midstream +35.7% per year for the past seven years
  8. Concho Resources +31.2% per year for the past ten years
  9. Marathon Oil +23.3% per year for the past ten years
  10. Energy Transfer Companies +19.2% per year for the past ten years 
  11. FMC Technologies +17.1% per year for seven years
  12. Spectra Energy Corp +16.4% per year for seven years
  13. Enterprise Products Partners +16.2% per year for the past ten years
  14. ConocoPhillips +14.8% per year for the past ten years
  15. Pioneer Natural Resources +14.4% per year for the past ten years
  16. Halliburton +14.3% per year for the past ten years
  17. Occidental Petroleum +14.3% per year for the past ten years
  18. Western Gas Partners +13.3% per year for the past ten years
  19. National Oilwell Varco+13.1% per year for the past ten years
  20. The New Baker Hughes, a GE Company +12.2% per year for the past three years  
  21. HollyFrontier Corp +11.2% per year for the past ten years.
  22. Plains All America Pipeline +10.4% per year for the past ten years
  23. Cabot Oil & Gas +10.3% per year for the past ten years
  24. Valero Energy Corp +10.1% per year for the past ten years
  25. The Old Baker Hughes Inc +9.9% per year for eight years excluding Golden Parachutes Pay
  26. Schlumberger Limited +9.6% per year for the past ten years
  27. Apache Corp +8.4% per year for the past ten years
  28. Noble Energy Inc +6.5% per year for the past ten years
  29. Phillips 66 +5.4% per year for the past five years
  30. EOG Resources +5.1% per year for the past ten years
  31. Exxon Mobil +1.2% per year for the past ten years
  32. Anadarko Petroleum +1.1% per year for the past ten years
There have been many US Government laws enacted in the past two decades that have substantially increased income inequality expansion, but none more so than the Trump Tax Cuts Act.   

On the other hand, the only highly effective US Government law enacted by either party in the past two decades that has substantially reduced income inequality expansion is Obamacare.

My objective is to get a better handle on just why the US and particularly here Texas has such massive continuing Income Inequality Expansion ..... it appears to be predominantly about the relative long-term annual pay raise percentages for the executives of a Company vs the many non-executive employees of a Company, coupled with the stock price appreciation subsequent to the time the company executives were rewarded in their pay with stock equity compensation.

To fix Income Inequality driven mainly by Company and its Board of Director choices on Percentage Annual Pay Raises, the US Government should step in and pass wisely-designed, simple but effective Fair Pay Raise Income Inequality Narrowing Company tax incentives for rewarding non-executive employees with fair pay increases ..... the carrot ..... and Company tax disincentives for rewarding executive employees with clearly excessively high pay increases ..... the stick.  I am certain ..... it is simple math ..... that this tax proposal would be very effective in substantially reducing the huge income inequality expansion that has occurred for decades in annual percentage pay raises between company executives and the rest of the company employees. 

And the continuing annual net tax revenues raised by the US Government here should be set up in a separate fund to be used only for wise additional income inequality narrowing initiatives.  This fund should be run by an outside group made up entirely of minorities harmed the most by Income Inequality Expansion of the past decades  .....all women, all blacks, all Latinos, all other non-white people, all past and present union members, all LGBTQ, all non-employee contract workers and all middle and lower income people of all ages, including those retired.

Also, the US Government should require all US Corporate Boards to include at least one worker representative and to exclude any Company Executive.

Further, the US Government should ban Golden Parachutes.

FYE FYE FYE FYE FYE FYE FYE FYE FYE FYE
Dec Dec Dec Dec Dec Dec Dec Dec Dec Dec
Buckeye Partners LP 2018 2017 2017 2016 2016 2015 2015 2014 2014 2013
Top-Tier Total Total Total Total Total Total Total Total Total Total
Executive Comp Comp Comp Comp Comp Comp Comp Comp Comp Comp
$ 000s $ 000s $ 000s $ 000s $ 000s $ 000s $ 000s $ 000s $ 000s $ 000s
Smith CEO       8,755       9,301       9,301       9,121       9,121       8,551       8,551       7,381       7,381       5,657
St.Clair CFO       3,434       3,618       3,618       3,715       3,715       3,627       3,627       2,780       2,780       2,510
Malecky EVP       2,897       3,065       3,065       2,940       2,940       2,950       2,950       2,236       2,236       1,739
Muslih EVP        2,950       3,146       3,146       3,070       3,070       2,999       2,999       2,090       2,090       1,725
Hollis SVP       2,426       2,410       2,410       2,399       2,399       2,647    
 Totals      20,462     21,540     21,540     21,245     21,245     20,774     18,127     14,487     14,487     11,631
Annual % Change vs Prior Year -5.0% 1.4% 2.3% 25.1% 24.6%
5 Year Average Per Year % Change 9.7%
FYE FYE FYE FYE FYE FYE FYE FYE FYE FYE
Dec Dec Dec Dec Dec Dec Dec Dec Dec Dec
Buckeye Partners LP 2013 2012 2012 2011 2011 2010 2010 2009 2009 2008
Top-Tier Total Total Total Total Total Total Total Total Total Total
Executive Comp Comp Comp Comp Comp Comp Comp Comp Comp Comp
$ 000s $ 000s $ 000s $ 000s $ 000s $ 000s $ 000s $ 000s $ 000s $ 000s
Smith CEO       5,657       3,447       3,447       1,757       1,757       3,374  N/A   N/A     
St.Clair CFO       2,510       2,471       2,471       1,604       1,604       3,038       3,038       2,134  N/A   N/A 
Malecky EVP       1,739       1,919       1,919          989          989       3,115       3,112          869
Muslih EVP        1,725       1,912       1,912       1,043       1,043       3,057       3,057          759    
Hollis SVP
Ashcroft SVP       1,593       1,937
Wylie Former CEO  N/A   N/A        4,295     10,936     10,936       1,512       1,512          440
 Totals      13,224     11,686       9,749       5,393       9,688     23,520     20,143       5,274       1,512          440
Annual % Change vs Prior Year 13.2% 80.8% -58.8% 281.9% 243.6%
5 Year Average Per Year % Change 112.1%
10 Year Average Per Year % Change 60.9%