Thursday, December 15, 2016

Rex Tillerson: 'A Christmas gift to the Russian people'

http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/12/14/1610998/-Rex-Tillerson-A-Christmas-gift-to-the-Russian-people
"Rex Tillerson is facing a massive conflict of interest that he can't avoid. That conflict has to do with with the Scrooge McDuck-ish pile of Exxon stock options that he has accumulated in his 41 years at the fossil fuel giant. While Tillerson could sell off about half his $345 million haul, the other half isn’t quite so easy. 1.9 million shares held by Tillerson, worth over $177 million, were not vested at the end of 2015. And they’re not scheduled to vest for years. As a result, Tillerson will have his future tied irrevocably to that of ExxonMobil while serving as secretary of state. Which might be considered a cause for concern, and is certainly a unprecedented conflict of interest. But in some quarters, it’s also a cause for celebration. The incoming secretary of state will have his own wealth connected directly to the future of ExxonMobil. A future that, in turn, is strongly connected to whether or not the US continues sanctions on Russia."