the power of public-employee unions.

Something the Dog Said wrote: The workers at Hostess are not making "unreasonable" demands. Their wages would have dropped by over 50% in the last few years had they accepted the "offer", as well as their out of pocket health care expenses would have dramatically increased along with major cuts in their pension benefits. Most of the workers would actually qualify for food stamps if they took the management offer. And during this same time period, management has been given 300% raises in their compensation.

That's what happens during creative destruction Dog. That is what happens when a company or its products become obsolete. Know what a press operator makes these days compared to 10 years ago? If you still have a job as a pressman your wages are down, way down, compared to what they were. Know how much the web pressmen who used to turn out the Rocky Mountain News are making these days? Same thing, only its snack cakes we are talking about instead of newspapers. In case you haven't heard, Washington D.C. had declared a war on obesity and as in every war there are going to be casualties. There is a tariff on imported sugar and that too has consequences that should be thought about as the left talks about raising tariffs to protect American jobs.

As "Larry the Liquidator" played by Danny DeVito remarked to the stockholders of the fictional company his "vulture" capital investment firm had gained control of, the quickest way to go broke is to get an ever increasing share of an ever declining market.

The compensation for top executive positions in a sinking company has already been explained to you. You don't have to believe it, but that won't make it any less real. Those executives are being bribed to stay with a floundering ship that is sinking beneath them rather than abandoning the ship as it sinks. There is no hope of rescuing the company without the best talent that money can buy at the helm as it attempts to emerge from bankruptcy.

And yes, sometimes the company is so far gone that the wisest decision is to come in and sell it off in pieces and parts. When that is the decision that is reached by those who have risked their own capital they still need a knowledgeable and experienced person to oversee the process. That person too will expect to be handsomely paid for their services as it might be years before they come across another opportunity where their specialized services are required.

The company entered bankruptcy in 2004, emerged and was on its way into bankruptcy again in 2009 before the "vulture capitalists" stepped in and invested their capital into the company. By that time Hostess was already deep in the pit, its pension plans already severely underfunded, its employees already excessively compensated for producing a product with diminished market shares. Those folks would have been unemployed in 2009 if not for those who were willing to risk losing their capital deciding to purchase a controlling interest in the company. It is their money that was invested so they get to decide the fate of the company that was purchased with their money. If the unions were so all fired up about saving the jobs for their members the unions could have invested the union's pension funds into the company instead of allowing the vulture capitalists to invest theirs. Then they, not the vulture capitalists, would have had control of the company, the benefit plans, the compensation that was paid and the pension funds for their union brothers and sisters. Why didn't they do that Dog? If Hostess was a viable and profitable company, why wouldn't the union be interested in purchasing the controlling share of the stock and operating it the union way?

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Something the Dog Said wrote: The workers at Hostess are not making "unreasonable" demands. Their wages would have dropped by over 50% in the last few years had they accepted the "offer", as well as their out of pocket health care expenses would have dramatically increased along with major cuts in their pension benefits. Most of the workers would actually qualify for food stamps if they took the management offer. And during this same time period, management has been given 300% raises in their compensation.

It appears that not only were Hostess workers "not making unreasonable demands" for the things they bargained for, they unwittingly believed that the money withheld from their own paychecks that was supposed to be used for their pensions was actually being used for that purpose--instead of being diverted by Management for their own purposes. I believe that's also known as EMBEZZLEMENT, and by its other name, THEFT.

Hostess Workers' Pension Money Diverted For Other Uses: Report

Hostess Brands acknowledged for the first time in a news report Monday that the company diverted workers' pension money for other company uses.

The bankrupt baker told The Wall Street Journal that money taken out of workers' paychecks, intended for their retirement funds, was used for company operations instead. Hostess, which was under different management at the time the diversions began in August 2011, said it does not know how much money it took.

"It's not a good situation to have," Hostess CEO Gregory Rayburn told the WSJ.

"Whatever the circumstances were, whatever those decisions were, I wasn't there," Rayburn added. As the founder and owner of Kobi Partners, a restructuring advisory firm, Rayburn was appointed acting CEO in March 2012.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/1 ... f=business

So, this is not "slanted news" from a "leftie site"... This is HOSTESS ADMITTING to the WALL STREET JOURNAL that it DIVERTED, (read: STOLE), the employee's money for its own purposes...

Gee, I wonder how many here would be outraged if their money was "diverted" for something other than what it was being taken out of their checks for?

And then the vultures come in, clean out what there is left of the pension funds; give themselves fat bonuses, and screw the employees again.

Ah, "compassionate corporatism/conservatism" at its finest...

Got to pay for those million dollar executive bonuses somehow.

Wonder how many twinkies they stole over the years?

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285 Road Crew wrote: A post was split out and moved to the thread mentioned above: <!-- l --><a class="postlink-local" href=" www.285bound.com/285forum/viewtopic.php?f=29&t=24637&start=10 " onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">viewtopic.php?f=29&t=24637&start=10<!-- l -->

Alright, seriously now. Thats it

My desire to leave 285bound has just exceeded my desire to remain in it.


Ridiculous

Bye Bye Big Dump....

Alright thats it!