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When people are faced with chaos and collapse, it is unfortunate that the unscrupulous among them will resort to looting.
Recent examples of this have been particularly disturbing. While common citizens are left with uncertainty and despair, opportunists are making off with the riches. No, I'm not taking about events in war-torn Iraq but, rather, events much closer to home. With American Airlines spiraling toward bankruptcy, executives at the troubled airline received "retention bonuses" of up to twice their salary. Forty-one million dollars was also deposited into an account to protect executive pensions in case the company goes bankrupt. All the while, executives were laying off thousands of workers and negotiating wage concessions with those lucky enough to keep their jobs.
The ship is sinking and the cowardly corporate captains are scurrying to get in the first available lifeboat while the workers, chained below deck, are going down with the ship. Such corporate looting by top executives amounts to the theft of publicly held company assets and they should be prosecuted. While these criminals are not stealing priceless historical artifacts, they are destroying something we Americans hold dear -- public trust in our market economy.
Rob Henderson
Bloomington
Copyright © 2003-2006, Rob Henderson