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US Chamber of Commerce | Photo via SEIU/William Melton on Flickr
This shouldn’t surprise anyone, but the US Chamber of Commerce has been voted the 2009 Scrooge of the Year. From Jobs with Justice:
The Chamber’s narrow, radical agenda advocating for anti-worker, profit-focused solutions to the broken health care, labor, and environmental systems garnered them the most votes for the national Jobs with Justice “Scrooge of the Year” award.
“There was plenty of competition for the award this year,” said Jobs with Justice Executive Director Sarita Gupta. “But the similarities between Scrooge and the Chamber of Commerce were hard to beat. The ghost of years past would show that the policies they’ve promoted including deregulation and maximizing profits at the expense of workers are directly connected to the destruction of America’s middle class.”
It was a tough fight for this year’s award. The US Chamber was up against Bank of America, Hyatt Hotels, Publix Supermarkets, Sallie Mae and Citibank, and United Airlines:
This year’s Scrooge contest pitted the Chamber of Commerce against Bank of America, nominated for their role in the sub-prime lending crisis and failure to extend credit to small businesses, Hyatt Hotels for their Scrooge-like firing of 100 housekeepers in Boston and other anti-worker actions, Publix Supermarkets for their resisting the call to be part of the solution to human rights violations in Florida fields by continuing to buy tomatoes from growers prosecuted for modern-day slavery, and student loan lenders Sallie Mae and Citibank for their expensive, variable rate loans for students. An impressive write-in campaign was also waged for United Airlines, for their slashing of workers’ wages and pensions while continuing to award lavish bonuses to top executives.
Congratulations, US Chamber. This is a well-deserved award.
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About Work in Progress
No one worked harder for this honor, without question.
I’m not sure why it this couldn’t have been given to all of the above. That why none of them would have felt unloved.
Got that right. There isn’t a bigger collection of scumbags anywhere on the planet.
Yep. But after reviewing the list of candidates, I can see why the CoC worked so hard to beat the competition.
while CofC is deerving, i’m somewhat surprised walmart was not a contender with their anti-union agenda and slave labor. other nominees could have been health insurance companies and the u.s. senate.
Oh wow, this is breathtaking news.
cool, didn’t know they had scrooge of the year. the chamber did seem to go above and beyond this year, it’s a major award.
Wow, some big league, heavy hitting Scrooges in the running this year.
I hope the Chamber of Commerce enjoys their restful night’s sleep with their pal Marley.
OT but think it sums up this HC mess totally:
A Patient’s View of the Senate Christmas Healthcare Gift
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/mike-friends-blog/patients-view-senate-christmas-healthcare-gift
Nothing but the best for this Administration!
Penny Pritzker was Obama’s top choice for Secretary of Commerce.
She is the daughter of the Hyatt Hotels scion,
Chair of his National Campaign Finance fund, is a major campaign contribution bundler.
She sits on Obama’s Economic Recovery Advisory Board.
Her “Philanthropic” activities include the “reform” of Chicago’s public education system, and member of the Chicago 2016 Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games and chairs the Olympic Village subcommittee.
Accused of looting family trusts, Ms. Pritzker and cousins Tom and Nick were forced to wrest control of the family businesses when she and other family members were sued by cousin Liesel Pritzker claiming fraud and seeking damages in excess of $6 billion
Ms. Pritzker has been associated with the Subprime mortgage crisis.
She stepped down from the chairmanship of Superior Bank in 1994 but continued to serve on the board of the holding company.
In July 2001, FDIC seized the bank after the recapitalization could not be resolved.
Subsequently, the Pritzker family reached an agreement with regulators to pay $460 million over 15 years toward the costs of the closure; these funds will go towards reducing the costs of the FDIC’s losses and partially reimburse depositors with accounts in excess of FDIC insurance limits.
More than a thousand Superior Bank depositors are still owed money, and industry experts have criticized Pritzker’s handling of the situation. Consumer advocates as well as government investigators have asserted Superior “engaged in unsound financial activities and predatory lending practices.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penny_Pritzker
This woman is sitting on a Presidential board that advises the President on economic recovery matters.
Replacing her with a bum off the street would be a net gain.
His judgement is seriously flawed. I am completely cynical in regards to anything he does.
Silly me, I thought I read “Andy Stern, Stooge of the year.”
Wow that’s a shocker – a union backed website disparaging the Chamber of Commerce. This is valid how exactly???