Rising Hegemon
As Don Blankenship prepares to give up control of Massey Energy after the nation's worst mining disaster in four decades, angry shareholders who have been agitating for the coal executive's ouster aren't sure whether to celebrate or lament.
That's because corporate filings are revealing the staggering cost of his departure -- a golden parachute that will provide Blankenship with $2.7 million upon retirement, a free house for life, millions more in deferred compensation, and a "salary continuation retirement benefit" of $18,241-a-month that will continue for 10 years after his departure at the end of the year.
Digby mentions that this is the "invisible hand" at work, but that hand always seems to contain an upraised middle finger.
8 comments:
The invisible hand, wrist, and half the forearm.
The good news is he'll have to spend most of those millions to protect his own hide from miners' families.
a free house for life, millions more in deferred compensation, and a "salary continuation retirement benefit" of $18,241-a-month
Hmm. That's a lot of additional compensation he's due. "For life", "deferred", "per month". If we were interested in economic efficiency, a rational free-market solution to holding his retirement costs down would imply a very short lifespan. I'm just saying.
It is the "invisible hand" of our plutocratic overlords, which is always in our pockets taking our money.
another alternative to Mr. Woody's "free-market solution" would be to actually prosecute the bastard for the deaths of those miners, and the conditions that led up to their deaths... it's not like there were unforeseen circumstances and it was a genuine accident... years upon years of flouting federal & state safety regulations with Blakenship fully aware of the situation and openly giving a big "fuck you, I can do what I want" to everyone.
If you can't do it in criminal court, then do it in civil court and seize all his assets to pay restitution to the families of the miners.
While I think that prosecution for murder or manslaughter is probably warranted, the Teapublican position is likely that accountability by law would constitute class warfare and Kenyan/Satanic tyranny.
RuPaul.....uh, I guess that should be Rand Paul (don't want to disparage an honest transvestite), would go apoplectic - and not to be outdone Mama and the baby Grifters, Bachmann, Beck, Uncle Rusty Limbaugh, Hannity, and the rest of the howlers would complete the feeding frenzy.
Next thing you know Blankenship would be on the Teapublican Party TV News and radio as the latest martyred saint murdered by the hand of Obama during a sweat-soaked, anti-colonial, urban death fit.
Roger Ailes of Teapublican Party TV News would contribute a few million bucks to the further dismantling of America and the Lame Stream Media will decry the Democrats for their divisive partisanship.
Too messy. I'll just hope for a lucky lightening strike.
call me when boards don't give these assholes parachutes.
I think Don Blankenship will be okay. He is going to get a tax cut for the next two years. He'll manage to get by in this tough economy.
Just think of the trickle down effect he can bless his friends and family with, as long as all his generous retirement rewards are tax-free.
Vox
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