The federal bankruptcy judge overseeing the liquidation
of junk food purveyor Hostess has approved bonus payments for the company’s top
execs. This is after they ran the
company into the ground for the second time in ten years.
It isn’t hard to see what’s next. Over a hundred companies have made bids for the
rights to Hostess’ brands and for the company’s production facilities. It probably won’t be long before new owners
are turning out Twinkies, Ding Dongs, and Ho-Hos to sate the American sweet
tooth. And they’ll do it with many of
the same executives and without a unionized workforce.
The decision to pay the bonuses defies
reason. In the wake of the 2004
bankruptcy, Hostess’ union workers made wage and benefit concessions to save
their jobs. In 2012, management demanded
further give-backs. When the employees
refused, management exercised the nuclear option and effectively killed the
company. Now they have been given leave
to pick over the choice remains while the workforce is left out in the cold.
The Hostess case is the latest in a very long
string of corporate failures where the executives are handsomely rewarded for poor
performance. The outrage, unfortunately,
will inevitably be misdirected at the real victims—the workers. No matter how egregious the evidence of
corporate wrongdoing, Americans stubbornly cling to the just world hypothesis
despite its faulty logic. The workers
are unemployed; clearly they suffer from deficient character. The senior managers receive bonuses; this is
proof of their superior virtue.
The chains of ideology are stronger than any
made of steel. Perhaps the day will come
when we can say capitalism died of a theory.
But looking at the political landscape in the aftermath of capitalism’s
latest crisis and the American public’s everlasting willingness to believe the
lie that the system benefits them, that day is too far off to inspire any
glimmer of hope.
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