Posted on 09/14/2010 9:03:42 AM PDT by curth
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka on Tuesday will accuse Republicans, private sector businesses and health insurance companies of economic treason in a red meat speech in Columbus, Ohio, to union members at their annual convention.
Trumkas charge is centered on his anger at private sector business and corporations for sitting on capital as much as $2 trillion by some estimates instead of spending it to expand and create jobs, and at insurers for proposing rate hikes.
Business groups and leaders say that President Obamas policies, namely the health-care overhaul and the financial regulation bill, have created massive uncertainty and are transforming hiring into the assumption of liability instead gaining an asset. Insurers who have announced rate hikes say that the health-care bill has increased their costs.
But Trumka will say it boils down to a more simple explanation: greed.
Some of our politicians, and some of Americas biggest corporations have given up on America. Companies are sitting on $837 billion without creating jobs, Trumka will say. Banks are clutching a trillion dollars in profits without lending to small businesses and consumers. Too many companies arent investing in the future, or in the country that made them great. All they want to do is scrape every ounce of flesh from our hides for their profit.
Well I say that is economic treason! Trumka says.
The big health insurance companies the same ones that racked up tens of billions in profits last year and paid their CEOs megabucks they say they need premium increases of 20 percent or more for no reason at all except guess what? Greed, Trumka will continue. Thats economic treason!
Trumkas speech follows up a huge mailing by the AFL-CIO into several states, including Ohio.
The labor boss will go after several Republican politicians by name in his speech Tuesday, attacking Senate candidate Rob Portman, gubernatorial candidate John Kasich and congressional candidate Tom Ganley.
Here is the full text of Trumkas prepared remarks:
Remarks by AFL-CIO President Richard L. Trumka 27th Ohio AFL-CIO Convention Columbus, Ohio September 14, 2010
Hello, Ohio! Its good to be back in the heartland with my brothers and sisters. Thank you, Joe [Rugola], for that introduction and for having me at this great gathering.
Most of you probably know that Joe and I go way back. He comes from my neck of the Pennsylvania woods, just one county over from my hometown. Hes a good man. He works hard. And he and Petee [Talley] know how to squeeze everything out of a dollar.
I know youll give them the support they need to keep the Ohio AFL-CIO strong for the future. And I know youre ready to get to work now, too, because for the next 49 days wed all better be ready to pitch-in, knock-down, and drag-out!
Our Ohio opponents are over-confident. Theyre celebrating already. But if they want the election prize, theyve got to come through us. Because the door to Americas future swings right here! Right through Ohio! They want to pass that threshold! But were standing in the way! Shoulder-to-shoulder!
Are you going to let them come back in our house? I didnt think so!
This is where we live! Lets stand together! Lets fight together! And well turn them back together!
Brothers and sisters, our vision for America is on the line. Its a vision of a better, stronger future, a renewal of the American Dream the dream that all of us can earn a fair portion of the good things in life, time with our families, an education for our children, a voice on the job, a comfortable retirement even if were not rich.
Its a vision of a society that honors work, respects every individual, and sows solidarity not division.
Our best days are ahead of us! Thats what the American labor movement is all about.
But politicians on the other sidethey dont agree. They say what we seek is too much to ask. They say even with all our hard work and wealth, the richest nation on Earth cant afford good wages anymore. That we cant expect secure jobs or a good life for our children, or a decent retirement. That those days are behind us.
They say we cant compete in the global economy. That we cant aspire for better. That weve just got to take whats given us, and like it.
Some of our politicians, and some of Americas biggest corporations have given up on America. Companies are sitting on $837 billion without creating jobs. Banks are clutching a trillion dollars in profits without lending to small businesses and consumers. Too many companies arent investing in the future, or in the country that made them great. All they want to do is scrape every ounce of flesh from our hides for their profit.
Well I say that is economic treason!
The big health insurance companies the same ones that racked up tens of billions in profits last year and paid their CEOs megabucks they say they need premium increases of 20 percent or more for no reason at all except guess what? Greed.
Thats economic treason!
Listen to this: After a banner year $555 million in profits, and millions in bonuses the corporate bosses of Motts a 168-year-old company thats as American as applesauce are demanding cuts in their workers pay and benefits, because, they say quote workers are nothing more than commodities like soybeans or oil. Hey, they say, in a recession, wages go down.
Its pure profiteering. Economic treachery!
This recession isnt a natural disaster like a storm over Kansas! Its man-made! And one of the men who made it is running for governor of Ohio! John Kasich is the poster child for those paper-pushing, job-killing Wall Streeters who tanked our economy and stole our pensions! Kasich is the problem!
John Kasich pressured Ohio pension officials to gamble on his unstable financial company, Lehman Brothers. Lehman went down. Ohios pension funds lost $480 million. And Kasich walked away with $1.1 million.
And Kasich is not alone. Senate candidate Rob Portman helped the Bush administration off-shore 100,000 Ohio jobs, while supporting tax breaks for companies that shipped jobs overseas.
How do you like that?
It gets worse: Tom Ganley in Akron running against our own Rep. Betty Sutton promises to and I quote cut the Dickens out of government programs.
Thats the same Tom Ganley whose Mercedes dealership made millions off the Cash for Clunkers program, but when it comes to the rest of us hes all Youre on your own.
Kasich, Portman and Ganley, equal one ugly future for America! Its a bleak vision of a weak nation in decline.
Thats their true promise for America, hidden behind a wall of false populism and name-calling.
We need economic patriots like Governor Ted Strickland, like U.S. Senate candidate and Lt. Governor Lee Fisher, and like Betty Sutton! Mary Jo Kilroy, Marcy Kaptur and the rest! And youve got real champions to fight for in the Ohio House and Senate.
Trumka should have been thrown in jail years ago. He’s a crook and a thug.
Unions need to be outlawed and anyone running one or a member of one who does not willingly leave it should be executed.
When did unions become communist fronts?
I bet their membership does not even know...
I’ve got a house in Ohio that I inherited two years ago and haven’t been able to sell at any price despite putting over 20 grand in city-mandated improvements to it.
Maybe Trumka and Ted Strickland might want to buy it?
When are people going to realize that the unions are the ruination of this country?
“Trumkas charge is centered on his anger at private sector business and corporations for sitting on capital”....
Ha! Ha!...you friggin Assclown!...Do you think the private sector is going to contribute to its own demise?
He’s a union boss. Calling him a crook & a thug is a bit redundant.
Richard Trumka is a thug.
Early in the 20th Century.
If you look at the big company's books, they might have trillions in cash, but they have even more trillions of dollars in debts. If they didn't expect things would improve in many years, they would just pay off the debt on any bond they could call or distribute the money to their shareholders as dividents. The fact that they are holding onto the money means they still have hope that things will improve sometime in the next few years.
LOL.
The blue guy will spend money once the undocumented anti-colonial socialist goes back home to Kenya in permanent exile.
I’m guessing AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka’s pension plan is FULLY funded along with the obligatory ‘golden parachute’.
Soon,he will dump many union pension plans on the federal government where the workers will pennies on the dollar while Trumpka blames the GOP and greedy corporations.
Keep Trumka talking.
The more America sees of him the less they like this thug.
Eat some argula fat boy!
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