Originally posted by NY Madman:

Obama wants to raise taxes on corporations and investment. That's another job killer. This country already has the second highest corporate rate in the developed world. We will not be able to compete with higher corporate and higher taxes on investment.

1. UnitedHealth Group's William McGuire could walk away with $1.1 billion in stock options, retirement payouts and other benefits. And this is after he allegedly defrauded shareholders in the stock option backdating scandal that started an avalanche of CEO exits and financial restatements across corporate America.

2. Lee Raymond of ExxonMobil walked away with a $400 million payout. Huge number, but most of it is retirement independent and accrued over 40 years of employment and 12 years of running the company. And God knows, those were big years for the oil giant. Shareholders aren't complaining about this one.

3. Home Depot chief Robert Nardelli's severance package was $210 million. The company's poor performance under Nardelli's six-year watch was widely publicized, but the party line was that his resignation was mutually agreed upon by Nardelli and the board. Who wouldn't agree to leave for that much money?

4. Hank McKinnell of Pfizer was forced into early retirement after 5 years. The stock slide was one thing, but adding insult to injury was his retirement package, reported to be about $180 million.

5. Dick Grasso, CEO of the New York Stock Exchange was ousted over a deferred compensation package of $140 million plus an additional $48 million for something or other. He had spent 36 years at the exchange, though.

6. AT&T's CEO Ed Whitacre picked up $158 million plus up to $106 million more, if certain conditions are met. As an aside, the current incarnation of AT&T began with Whitacre at the helm of Southwestern Bell Telephone Company in 1990. He built quite an empire in 17 years.

7. My favorite of the bunch is Michael Ovitz, who picked up $140 million when he was fired just 14 months after being hired as Disney's president. Shareholders filed suit, but neither the board nor Ovitz's boss - Michael Eisner - were found culpable in this king of all corporate governance debacles.

8. Kevin Rollins received a total of about $60 million when he resigned from Dell after three years in the hot seat. Most of that was a payout in lieu of stock options that were frozen due to Dell's stock option backdating investigation.

9. Remember Carly Fiorina? HP's rock-star CEO got a $42 million severance payout when she was ousted after 5 long years at the helm of the computer giant. The board learned its lesson and hired Mark Hurd who effortlessly (it seemed) turned the company around.

10. Yahoo's Terry Semel actually resigned with no severance package, but he made over $400 million during the prior three years with the company.