2016 Postmortem
In reply to the discussion: "The Oligopolization of America" Corporatism Clearly Described In HRC MSM Pump Vs Bernie Blackout! [View all]gordyfl
(598 posts)"One of Burlington's largest employers was Martin Marietta. When that defense contractor merged with Lockheed to form Lockheed-Martin, I was more than usually attuned to the implication of that deal--the downsizing of 17,000 American workers. For making the "tough decision" to fire all those workers, the executives of the newly merged company decided to pay themselves $91 million in executive bonuses. $91 million as a reward for obliterating 17,000 jobs.
Now, a $91 million bonus for executives who were laying off 17,000 workers is obscene enough. Fully 1/3 of that money, $31 million, was to come from the Pentagon as "restructuring costs."
As soon as I learned about this outrageous federal giveaway, I drafted an amendment to prevent the Pentagon from paying the bonus. Imagine: workers thrown out of their jobs paying taxes so that the bastards who fired them could stuff their pockets. We termed the legislation the "payoffs for layoffs" amendment. The amendment passed by voice vote.
Frankly, the big money interests do not intimidate me--not the medical indusrial complex, not Wall Street or the American Bankers Association.
Exposing the outrageous practice by which the Defense Department subsidized corporate mergers and the laying off of tens of thousands of workers is precisely what I was elected to do." - Bernie Sanders Outsider in the White House