August 10, 2011

This is an example of what it’s like living in our corporatized country:
Verizon’s executives are trying to squeeze workers when Verizon's profits have more than tripled, and its CEO, Lowell McAdam, is getting more than $18 million in compensation. This squeeze on workers – 45,000 of whom went out on strike this week – comes just after Verizon’s top five executives gave themselves hefty raises while raking in more than a quarter-billion dollars over the past four years. And, the company claims record profits. Yet it's busy demanding major concessions from workers instead of putting those profits into broadband deployment. And when it isn’t trying to take away workers’ benefits, Verizon is busy dodging taxes while netting vast benefits from American taxpayers and exacting political favors from Congress and the FCC. This is the same company that's suing the FCC to kill even the weakest Net Neutrality protections. It’s the same company that got caught blocking smartphone apps and text messages it didn’t like. Today Verizon is squeezing its workers. Tomorrow it plans to squeeze customers through price gouging and by eliminating the right to choose the information we need online. Instead of trying to punish workers, nickel-and-dime its customers, and kill consumer protections, Verizon should spend its vast profits to bring broadband to more Americans. Yeah, like that’s going to happen. God bless America.