Reich writes: "If there is one person responsible for turning American corporations into the short-term, shareholder-maximizing, job-destroying monoliths they've become over the last 35 years, it is Carl Icahn."
Robert Reich. (photo: Richard Morgenstein)
22 October 15
he billionaire takeover of our democracy ushered in by the Supreme Court’s shameful 2010 “Citizens United” decision knows no bounds. Today Carl Icahn – whose net worth is over $20 billion, according to Forbes -- announced he’s forming a super PAC with $150 million of his own money.
If there is one person responsible for turning American corporations into the short-term, shareholder-maximizing, job-destroying monoliths they've become over the last 35 years, it is Carl Icahn. He began raiding corporations in the late 1970s – taking them over, using their assets to repay the debt he used to purchase them with, stripping them of their remaining assets, firing their workers, and then walking away with millions. America is littered with the remains of Ichan’s greed – RJR Nabisco, TWA, Western Union, Uniroyal, Marshall Field’s, to name only a few. Before Icahn, CEOs practiced stakeholder capitalism -- managing corporations on behalf of their workers and communities as well as shareholders. After Icahn, it was only shareholder capitalism, and the biggest shareholders were in the driver's seat.
Not incidentally, Icahn is a major supporter of Donald Trump for president. "I think at this moment in time, he's the only candidate that speaks out about the country's problems," Icahn says. Trump says he’d name Icahn his Treasury Secretary.
What do you think?
The billionaire takeover of our democracy ushered in by the Supreme Court’s shameful 2010 “Citizens United” decision...
Posted by Robert Reich on Wednesday, October 21, 2015
