Well I can not defend the greed of Corporate America and their desire for slave labor and to put profits before the common good.
[h=1]Greed, Greed and More Greed[/h][h=2]by Rep. Bernie Sanders[/h][h=4]Sanders Scoop newsletter, Summer 2002[/h][h=4]There is a cancer eating away at the heart of corporate America and its name is "greed." It is becoming increasingly apparent that many large corporations will do anything, legal or otherwise, to fatten the already huge compensation packages of their CEOs. As we have seen in recent years these corporations lie about their financial statements, cheat or move abroad to avoid paying their fair share of taxes, cut the pensions and health benefits of their employees and throw loyal workers out on the street as they move their plants to China. At the same time many of them line up for billions in corporate welfare from the federal government.[/h][h=4][/h][h=4]Let's be clear. We're not just talking about a "few bad apples" such as Worldcom, Enron, Xerox, Adelphia, Tyco, Global Crossing, and Arthur Anderson. According to a recent study by the Huron Consulting Group, over the past five years nearly 1,000 companies were forced to correct their financial statements.[/h][h=4][/h][h=4]The "greed culture" in corporate America today is now out of control. Some examples: Lou Gerstner, former CEO of IBM, received $366 million over the last five years and an extremely generous pension plan, while cutting back on the retirement and health care benefits of his employees. C.A. Heimbold, Jr., former Chairman and CEO of BristolMyers Squibb Co. received compensation of $74,890,918 in 2001 and has stock options worth $76,095,611, while senior citizens are suffering and dying because they can't afford the outrageously high prices for the prescription drugs that his company sells. GE, which has laid off tens of thousands of American workers as they move jobs abroad, provided their three top executives with $550 million in salary, stock options and executive benefits in 2000. Jack Welch, former GE CEO, receives a pension of almost $10 million annually for the rest of his life.[/h][h=4]At Worldcom, bankrupt and under investigation for manipulating their
financial statements, CEO Bemard Ebbers received personal loans from the company
for $408 million that has not yet been paid back. At Enron, also bankrupt and
under investigation, CEO Lou Pai cashed in $353 million in stock options. And on
and on it goes.[/h][h=4][/h][h=4]Let's be clear, however. It's not only the illegal behavior of multinational
corporations that Americans are outraged at. It's the legal but immoral behavior
of corporate America as well. In the United States today, CEOs of major
corporations make over 500 times what their employee earn, a gap that has
increased dramatically in recent years and is far higher than in any other
country.
http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Political/Greed_MoreGreed_Sanders.html[/h][h=4][/h]
