Corporate Greed

The Chief Twinkie at Hostess goes Ding Dong

Jim Hightower — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0800

Here's a case of good news oozing out of bad news, and vice versa.

The bad news is that Hostess Brands has sunk into bankruptcy. It couldn't stay afloat with the $860 million debt piled onto it when a group of Wall Street speculators took over the 82 year old company.

The good news, though, is that devoted customers can still get their daily fix of five kinds of sugar, partially-hydrogenated oil, polysorbate 60, artificial flavors, and yellow dye number 5. Those are a few of the ingredients in Hostess Twinkies. When top executives filed for Chapter 11 in January, they assured an anxious nation that the corporation would keep chugging out Twinkies, Ho Hos, Ding Dongs, and its other caloric delights while they deal with a few legal details to restructure Hostess.

Oh, goodie! But wait – those "details" constitute the bad news flowing out of the good news. The CEO says that to become "a highly competitive company that provides secure employment for our employees," Hostess must make those employees less secure by busting their pensions, cutting their medical benefits, and abrogating their labor contracts. Does this Twinkie-in-Chief even understand how twisted his logic is? Apparently not, for he also asserts that one of the "tremendous inherent strengths" that Hostess can build on to become a viable company is "a talented and experienced workforce."

Thanks for the complement, chief, but I'm guessing the workforce would prefer a decent pension. Without that, your words are as empty as the calories in a Ding Dong. Meanwhile, the union workers who literally deliver the goods for the company point out that they've already made concessions – and it's time for the richly-paid corporate executives and profiteering speculators who loaded Hostess with all that debt to stop sucking all the cream out of the Twinkies.

PR soap can't scrub off banker greed

Jim Hightower — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800

"Greenwashing" is the use of shameless PR campaigns by notorious polluters to portray their corporations as benign Bambi-loving protectors of nature. But now comes "Greedwashing."

And who's in greater need of a greed bath than Wall Street banksters? So, splish-splash and rub-a-dub, here came JPMorgan Chase with a holiday season PR campaign intended to scrub off its greed. The message was that Chase is not merely a bailed-out, fee-grubbing, casino huckster, but a generous philanthropist that wants only to benefit humanity.

Rather than simply presenting this image makeover in an ad, however, Chase created a two-hour television special on NBC devoted to itself. Called the "American Giving Awards," the show profiled community groups that had received charitable contributions from the Wall Street bank. Isn't that just precious?

If any viewers missed the point that Chase is not really a financial behemoth, but a bunch of big-hearted bankers who give away money, the show was spiked with eight 30-second commercials about the bank, plus frequent reminders that the altruism being displayed was "presented by Chase." Well... actually, this two-hour greedwash was also presented by us taxpayers, for the cost of the show and the donations to the groups are all deductible from the corporation's income taxes. Yet, we got no credit for our help. Probably an oversight.

But the cheesiest part of the whole fraud is that the total amount of Chase's "magnanimous" donations to the five groups was $2 million. Come on – this outfit had $104 billion in revenues in the past year and showered its CEO with $23 million in pay, including a $5 million cash bonus.

At JPMorgan Chase, charity really does begin at home, and its dab of trumped up philanthropy won't wash off a spec of its greed.

Big corporation, tiny heart

Jim Hightower — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800

How small can a giant corporation get? I don't mean in size, but in spirit.

Once again, America's biggest commercial empire – Wal-Mart – is displaying its incredibly-shriveled ethical center by whacking the already-meager health care benefits that hundreds of thousands of its workers count on. Just a couple of years ago, this $408 billion-a-year retailing colossus tried to hush critics of its Dickensian labor policies by ballyhooing a bare-bones health care plan for its "associates" The insurance scheme had such high deductibles, however, that barely half of its employees bought into it.

Now, even that benefit is being yanked from the 40 percent of Wal-Mart's employees who are part-time workers. Also, insurance premiums and deductibles are being dramatically jacked up for thousands of full-time workers. For example, one full-timer who's paid only $12,000 a year will see her premium more than double to about $3,300 a year – a fourth of her income! "I won't be able to afford the insurance," she says, "and I really can't go without insurance, because I have a heart problem."

Top executives and the board of directors of this enormously profitable corporation also have a heart problem. They are taking advantage of America's raging unemployment crisis to stiff their workforce, since these low-wage, non-union employees desperately need the jobs and have no power to stand up to the corporation's greed. A Wal-Mart PR-flak says that decisions to whack the workers "were not easy, but they strike a balance between managing costs and providing quality care and coverage."

"Care and coverage" for whom? Why, for the top executives, of course. They get full health care coverage from the corporation. How's that for boosting morale... and for morality? For more information, go to ForRespect.org/healthcare.

Fired CEOs get gilded goodbyes

Jim Hightower — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0800

In these times of nationwide job insecurity, with five applicants lined up for every job opening, CEOs warn workers that they'd better perform – or else. Or else they'll be unceremoniously booted out the door.

But what happens when the bosses themselves fail to perform? Well, they, too, are shown the door. But rather than getting a swift kick in the tush, they're being given little golden kisses to soothe the pain of their failures. Actually, the kisses are not so little.

For example, when Burger King's board ousted its CEO in April for years of underperforming, his care package included a $20 million severance. That was on top of $29 million more in pension, deferred bonuses, and stock payments. Likewise, Massey Energy, the reckless mining giant that killed 29 coal miners last year and now faces charges of deliberately disregarding safety rules, handed its chief $34 million as a fond farewell for his ugly performance when he departed in June.

Then there's Hewlett-Packard, which supposedly is in the business of making computers, but seems to specialize in making outlandish payouts to failed CEOs. In 2007, Carly Firoina was sent packing with a $21 million severance; then her successor got $12 million to leave last year; and, this September his successor, Leo Apotheker, departed too, after only 11 months on the job. Apotheker's pay-for-failure totaled $13.2 million, including – get this – a $2.4 million bonus! Plus, HP is paying to relocate Leo to Europe and to cover the $300,000 loss he took on the sale of his house.

Getting fired has never been so sweet – and shareholders are getting a tad miffed at seeing so much of their money going out the door in these gilded goodbyes. For more information, go to www.aflcio.org/corporatewatch/capital.

Getting unhooked from your bank's fee addiction

Jim Hightower — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0800

It's one thing to be addicted to a drug, but it's worse to be hooked because someone else is addicted.

The someone in this case is Bank of America, along with JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, and other members of the big bankers gang. The drug they're hooked on is one they love, rely on, and have no desire to shake: consumer fees. Such assessments on their own customers are now a major source of income in their banking systems, and they're more creative than other kinds of junkies in finding ways to get more of the stuff.

One especially infuriating creation by these fee junkies is one that hooks you to their addiction: internet banking. To draw you in, they initially offered free online bill-paying, electronic deposits, etc. "Sign up with us," they purred, "we're here to serve you!"

Millions were lured in. But then – gotcha! – "free" soon turned into fees. Well, customers could just move their internet business to another bank, right? Not so simple. The banks have deliberately wired their technology to make it a pain in the rear for anyone to switch. Instead of just click on "move," you have to disentangle each one of your electronic transactions separately – your various credit card accounts, rent payments, utility bills, etcetera, etcetera.

One fellow who tried to move from Bank of America says he was so overwhelmed by the complications of switching dozens of his online arrangements that he gave up: "I'm really annoyed," he told the New York Times, "but someone at Bank of America made that calculation."

Rep. Brad Miller, having made his own calculation that consumers should be able to move at will, has introduced a bill in Congress to make it easier for customers to free themselves from their bank's fee addiction. For information, go to Rep. Miller's website www.bradmiller.house.gov.

Big corporation, tiny heart

Jim Hightower — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0800

How small can a giant corporation get? I don't mean in size, but in spirit.

Shoveling America's wealth to the top

Jim Hightower — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0800

As an old country saying puts it, "Money is like manure – it does no good unless you spread it around."

Yet, America's corporate and political leaders have intentionally been shoveling wealth into an ever-bigger pile for those at the top. They've gotten away with this by lying to the great majority, which has seen its share of America's prosperity steadily disappear. Yes, they've told us, the rich are getting richer, but that's just the natural workings of the new global economy, in which financial elites are rewarded for their exceptional talents, innovation, and bold risk-taking.

Horse dooties. The massive redistribution of America's wealth from the many to the few is happening because the rich and their political puppets have rigged the system. Years of subsidized offshoring and downsizing, gutting labor rights, monkeywrenching the tax code, legalizing financial finagling, dismantling social programs, increasing the political dominance of corporate cash – these and other self-serving acts of the moneyed powers have created the conveyor belt that's moving our wealth from the grassroots to the penthouses.

Not since the Gilded Age, which preceded and precipitated the Great Depression, have so few amassed so much of our nation's riches. Having learned nothing from 1929's devastating crash, nor from their own bank failures in 2008 that crushed our economy, the wealthiest of the wealthy fully intend to keep taking more for themselves at our expense.

Now, however, the people are onto their lies. In an October poll, two-thirds of Americans support increased taxes on millionaires, an end to corporate tax subsidies, and policies to more evenly distribute the wealth we all help create. This is rising egalitarianism shows the true American character, and it's changing our politics – for the better.

Another bailout scam from Bank of America

Jim Hightower — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0800

One way you can tell that a bank is in trouble is that it suddenly starts buying full-page ads in newspapers across the country to tell us what great shape its in and what a fine job it's doing for our communities.

Such a PR push is now being made by Bank of America, which – despite its happy-face ads – is in a heap of hurt. How big of a heap? So big that it's trying to share the hurt with you and me.

In the recent Wall Street collapse, B of A took advantage of the crisis to bulk up its empire. Using $45 billion in bailout money from us taxpayers, the giant gobbled up two troubled financial powers, investment house Merrill Lynch and mortgage hustler Countrywide Financial. It is now choking on these mergers, as well as its own executive incompetence. Its credit rating has been downgraded, its stock price has plummeted, its CEO is desperately trying to raise cash (and save his job) by firing 36,000 employees, and it has infuriated its own customers by trying to impose a $5 monthly fee on debit card users.

Now, though, CEO Brian Moynihan has a dandy plan to lighten his load by dumping a big chunk of it on us taxpayers. He's trying to transfer a mess of bad investments now held by the Merrill Lynch subsidiary into B of A's consumer banking unit. Why? Because that unit has about a trillion dollars in customer deposits that are insured by Uncle Sam. So, if Merrill's sorry investments cause the banking unit to fail, the feds would be there to rescue it.

A banking expert has commented that, "There is always an enormous temptation to dump the losers on the insured institution. We should have fairly tight restrictions on that."

"Fairly tight?" Uh-uh! We should have totally tight restrictions – as in, "No, you can't do that." Why should we let these failed capitalists turn into corporate socialists every time they get in trouble?

Let's buy Cal Thomas a clue

Jim Hightower — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Many big-time newspapers have run mocking pieces by political pundits about the Occupy movement, denigrating it as confused and chaotic. In USA Today, for example, right-wing pundit Cal Thomas recently opined that "to the extent anyone can understand their core message," the occupiers "apparently despise business and capitalism."

Well, no, Cal – they despise corporate greed and political corruption, and their core message is really quite clear: the bankers, bosses, and others who make up the richest one percent of our society are further enriching themselves by knocking down the 99 percent. Maybe an up-close example of this would help Thomas see what the majority of Americans – who support the Occupy movement – are experiencing. Look no further than the very newspaper chain that's paying him to pontificate so cluelessly.

Gannett, which owns USA Today and about 80 other papers, is a financial and journalistic wreck. In the past six years, its stock price has collapsed by 750 percent, it has fired 20,000 employees, stripped its newsrooms of their ability to do serious reporting, and cut the pay of remaining journalists while insisting that they work longer hours with less support.

Craig Dubow, Gannett's CEO since 2005, presided over this debacle. He's now out, but he wasn't fired (as you or I would've been for such a failure). No, no – instead, Gannett's board of directors handed Dubow – get this – $37 million as a go-away gift. This cushion of luxury came on top of the $16 million he was given in salary and bonuses during the past two years – as those workers who produce the product were being dumped and the corporation was tanking.

So, Mr. Thomas, that's the reason so many are in the streets and in support of what the occupiers are saying. Can you relate? Probably not.

Rising public anger explained in daily headlines

Jim Hightower — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0700

America's power elites on Wall Street and in Washington have been stunned by the sudden surge of the Occupy movement. Some 600 U.S. communities have Occupy groups, thousands of middle-class people have taken to the streets, and recent polls show that nearly six out of 10 Americans support what the protesters are saying and doing. "Why is this happening?" wail bankers, CEOs, and their pet politicos, "What is upsetting all these people?"

You'd think that the superrich could afford to buy a clue, but apparently not. So, to help them grasp the situation, I've gathered a mess of news clips from just the past few weeks that pretty much spells it out for them. They needn't read the actual stories, just scan the headlines. Better yet, I’ll do it for them (no need to thank me, I'm always delighted to edify the rich):

"Slumping wages, rising health costs cause strain."

"Top earners double share of nation's income."

"Snapshot of poverty's surge in the suburbs."

"Banks to make customers pay debit card fee."

"Record high 4.5 million haven't worked in a year or more."

"House GOP spending plan cuts money for job training."

"U.S. income levels sink... leaves fragile consumers in a bind."

"Outsize severance packages continue for executives."

"More 'new poor' going hungry."

"Bank of America to cut 30,000 jobs."

"Banks are awash in cash."

Even a Wall Street banker ought to be able to understand the message that these headlines are delivering. Such daily headlines reveal the depth of inequality and rank injustice that's propelling the Occupy uprising. As we say in Texas, even a dog knows the difference between being stumbled over and being kicked. America's middle class and the poor are tired of being kicked – and now they're kicking back. This is just the start.