A couple of quick notes on how corporations, and not the government, are the ones killing American workers while avoiding any responsibility to this country that has made them rich beyond all measure.
First, the coal-mining disaster in West Virginia where 25 miners lost their lives in a methane explosion with 4 more presumed dead. The Upper Big Branch mine, operated by the Performance Coal Company, but owned by Massey Energy Co., had 57 safety violations just last month. Read this piece for more info.
Or read this account in the New York Times, which contains this paragraph:
"In the past two months, miners had been evacuated three times from the Upper Big Branch because of dangerously high methane levels, according to two miners who asked for anonymity for fear of losing their jobs."
Losing 25 or 29 miners is just the cost of doing business for Massey. It's been fined $1.8 million in penalties for safety violations since 2006. It's only paid about $365,000.
Massey must figure that losing 29 miners would cost them maybe $1 million per worker or $29 million. It's annual net income is about $100 million.
What is unknown at this point is whether the company took out insurance policies on these dead miners, not to pay the victims' families, but merely as another source of profit. Wal-Mart is a pioneer in this sleazy, corporate tactic.
On another front, the biggest and most profitable American companies, like G.E. and ExxonMobil, don't pay much in taxes, which is the source of much of our deficit problems. Read this article for more info. ExxonMobil does pay a lot in taxes, just not to the U.S. government. Check out the Forbes story for more details.
Teabaggers need to go after the corporations who shirk their civic duties by not supporting this country through taxes. Again, freedom isn't free.
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