I have researched and made posts related to Top-Tier Executive Total Compensation in most of the largest companies headquartered in the four earliest 2020 Democratic Primary States ..... Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina.
Then, of the 14 Super Tuesday US States holding their 2020 Democratic Presidential Primaries on March 3, 2020, I made like posts related to most of the largest Texas Companies, most of the largest North Carolina Companies, most of the largest Minnesota Companies, most of the largest Massachusetts Companies, most of the largest Southern California companies and most of the largest technology companies headquartered in the San Francisco/Silicon Valley, California area. Thus I now will complete California Companies by covering most of the largest Non-Technology Companies in the San Francisco/Silicon Valley, California area.
My research has shown that Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders and Tom Steyer are all spot on when they assert that US Corporate Financial Corruption is rampant. But the problem is that none of the three have any clue on precisely the cause or how to effectively fix this huge problem which is also the primary cause of the huge, continuing US income inequality expansion which has been occurring for decades. They don't understand precisely the mechanics of how large US Corps have expanded income inequality so dramatically in each year for decades. You can't fix something you don't sufficiently understand. It's insufficient to just grouchily complain about it all of the time without offering effective solutions.
There is only one Democratic Presidential candidate who has both the requisite financial acumen and economic fairness to turn the tide on this massive, continuing US income inequality expansion ..... Pete Buttigieg.
Frankly, Joe Biden is devoid of financial acumen. Biden is a very nice man, but he is so naive on economic issues that he isn't even aware of the extent of this continuing huge US income inequality expansion or precisely its cause which has been occurring under his nose for the past forty plus years.
Nor is Biden aware of, or else has decided to ignore, just how huge the largest US tax shelters are which are located right under his nose in his home State of Delaware, mostly in one Wilmington, Delaware building. These Delaware tax shelters have substantially added to US income inequality each year.
Amy Klobuchar has very little financial acumen. Similar to the way Republicans think, Amy successfully pushed strongly for tax breaks for the many Medical Companies in Minnesota but that has substantially expanded income inequality with no trickle down economic benefit to the middle and lower economic classes.
Also on the very negative side, both Joe Biden and Amy Klobuchar voted for many years for the Annual Income Tax Loophole Extenders which dramatically increased US income inequality expansion each year. On the positive side, voting for many years against these same Annual Income Tax Loophole Extenders were Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders.
If you want four more years of huge US income inequality expansion like we have had in the past forty years, then Joe Biden is your man.
I think Joe Biden would have a very difficult time beating Donald Trump. With his advanced age, Biden has a very low energy level, whereas Trump, with his unbelievably high energy level, reminds me of the energizer bunny. US citizens want an energetic US President.
Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren are still both saddled with their pure Medicare For All position, which is highly unpopular to US voters at large. If either of them won the 2020 Democratic Presidential Primary, they would stand little chance of beating Donald Trump in the 2020 Presidential general election. Warren, with her consistently likable charismatic positive posture, would stand a much better chance of beating Trump than Bernie would, who comes across as a grumpy old white guy.
So far in my research of large US Corps I have shown that their Top-Tier Executives have been rewarded continually with just enormous annual percentage increases in pay and employee benefits, mostly stock equity compensation, to the extent that the key issue to US citizens should be the huge and continuing Income Inequality Expansion which is at the core of many critical problems the US faces.
While increasing the US federal minimum wage will help here, this would be just a mere drop in the bucket as compared to the fact that the annual percentage increase in the pay and employee benefits of Company non-executive employees are minuscule in relation to that of Company executive employees and this has been going on for decades. When Corporate CEOs and CFOs primarily view non-executive employees as Costs rather than as People, this is what happens. And neither political party has had the courage to take on US Corps here.
But this huge pay inequality problem also exists widely in the non-profit sector including in non-profit hospitals. And it also exists widely in state and local governments, especially in public education.
So now I will be addressing Top-Tier Executive Compensation for five to ten years in some of the largest Non-Technology Companies in the San Francisco/Silicon Valley area of California.
I will be doing this research mostly by stock market capitalization and thus the third Northern California Company that I am addressing here is Gilead Sciences Inc.
From annual compensation information contained in Proxy Statement filings with the US SEC, the chart below shows Gilead Sciences Inc's Top-Tier Executives Annual Total Compensation for each of the two consecutive full years of employment for the past five years.
Gilead Sciences Inc's Top-Tier Executives Average Annual Pay and Employee Benefits Increase was a robust 11.3% per year during the past five years.
| FYE | FYE | FYE | FYE | FYE | FYE | FYE | FYE | FYE | FYE | |||||
| Dec | Dec | Dec | Dec | Dec | Dec | Dec | Dec | Dec | Dec | |||||
| Gilead Sciences | 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 | |||||
| Milligan CEO | 25,962 | 15,438 | 15,438 | 13,935 | 13,935 | 8,277 | 8,277 | 8,261 | 8,261 | 6,566 | ||||
| Washington CFO | 6,343 | 5,529 | 5,529 | 5,068 | 5,068 | 5,557 | 5,557 | 6,223 | 6,223 | 3,942 | ||||
| Alton Chief Patent Officer | 4,907 | 5,216 | 5,216 | 5,326 | 5,326 | 5,936 | 5,936 | 5,977 | ||||||
| Martin Executive Chair | 7,311 | 10,442 | 10,442 | 18,756 | 18,756 | 18,958 | 18,958 | 15,452 | ||||||
| Young COO | 6,222 | 5,640 | ||||||||||||
| Bischofberger EVP R&D | 6,145 | 6,169 | 6,169 | 6,953 | 6,953 | 6,794 | 6,794 | 5,588 | ||||||
| Totals | 37,212 | 26,183 | 45,861 | 46,580 | 40,940 | 45,479 | 45,479 | 46,213 | 40,236 | 31,548 | ||||
| Annual % Change vs Prior Year | 42.1% | -1.5% | -10.0% | -1.6% | 27.5% | |||||||||
| 5 Year Average Per Year % Change | 11.3% |
