Twinkie: Whodunnit?
News blogs, sports blogs, entertainment blogs, and more from Philly.com, The Philadelphia Inquirer and the Philadelphia Daily News.
Twinkie: Whodunnit?
The killer of the Ring Ding is not whom the "lamestream media" would have you believe:
But while headlines have been quick to blame unions for the downfall of the company there’s actually more to the story: While the company was filing for bankruptcy, for the second time, earlier this year, it actually tripled its CEO’s pay, and increased other executives’ compensation by as much as 80 percent.
At the time, creditors warned that the decision signaled an attempt to “sidestep” bankruptcy rules, potentially as a means for trying to keep the executive at a failing company.
The New Yorker has a smart and fair-and-balanced (no, this time, really) take on who killed the Twinkie (h/t Atrios):
The real issue here is that people’s image of unions, and their sense that doing something like going on strike is legitimate, seems to depend quite a bit, in the U.S., on how common unions are in the workforce. When organized labor represented more than a third of American workers, it was easy for unions to send the message that in agitating for their own interests, union members were also helping improve conditions for workers in general. But as unions have shrunk, and have become increasingly concentrated in the public sector, it’s become easier for people to dismiss them as just another special interest, looking to hold onto perks that no one else gets. Perhaps the most striking response to the Hostess news, in that sense, was the tweet from conservative John Nolte, who wrote “Hostess strikers had pension. PENSIONS! What is this 1962?” It was once taken for granted that an industrial worker who worked for a big company for many years would get a solid middle-class lifestyle, and would be taken care of in retirement. Today, that concept seems to many like a relic. Just as Wonder Bread does.
And finally here's a look inside "the Hostess Bankery."
There's a lot to be thankful for this Thanksgiving holiday, but I know I'll be thankful for the men and women who fought so hard in the past for a decent middle-class lifestyle, and for the courageous people -- like these workers at Wal-Mart fighting for basic fairness -- who continue the fight today, at enormous risk to themselves and their family. Make a wish and I'll see you next week.
- Coming from somebody who votes Republican.
— wokmaster - Oh, Wokkie, speaking of greed... how much did you pay Ben Wiseman - the illustrator who created your avatar - for the right to use it?
— michael_b 
Comment removed.- "STUPID"
In 2010 I volunteered for the Sestak campaign. They sent me to the Delaware Avenue base for the Labor Day Parade specifically to sign up volunteers. Jam packed with Trade Union 'Guys': Not one signed up to volunteer. I knew in my heart that every single last one of them voted for Toomey. Onatoro (Dem gov candidate) didn't even win his home county.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Reagan Democrats have voted for "Job Creators" so long that they have literally voted themselves out of not just a pension but a job.
Too late they realized that to support the least of us, elevates the whole of us...Now the Unions are the least of us.
— Cuddles - Get an education and you will command better jobs and higher wages. The unemployment rate among college graduates is 3.8%. Read this stat, again. This is as of the most recent jobs report, according to the NY Times.— gxel
- PUBLIC Education has been a target of voters since at least Reagan's 1981 and probably going back to May 17, 1954.
(As happened in Silicon Valley???????)— Cuddles - For years the headquarters of these Trade Unions were right across the street from a center of Urban motivation: Community College...For years and perhaps to this day, they never did make the connection. — Cuddles
- This is the fault of Americans...Union Non-Union, Republican't and Democrap, put plainly and simply Americas are lazy, greedy and self centered. Dinner is over and desert is being finished off the check is coming last one at the table pays— Iknowyourider
- The city trade unions run by Johnny Doc and his crowd are thugs and give unions a bad name. Most unionized workers like the Hostess workers are not uionized thugs. The Hostess workers gave back twice and where now being asked to give back another 27 to 32 % according to Yahoo news. What about management ? It wasn't just a Union issue at Hostess.— Jeff C.
- BTW - who cast Gidget in that role? Like a broad lefty union organizer would shave her armpits? Really?— teardownthisfishwrap
- That is quite the non sequitur, michael.— wokmaster
- Really? Isn't it a discussion about greed, entitlement and such?
When I saw your avatar I thought it a perfect example of a greedy person who thinks they're entitled to someone else's hard work (copyright)... and simply TOOK it. Unless, of course, you are Ben Wiseman.— michael_b - Looks like "You didn't build that" has evolved into "You didn't earn that".
I think it's important to show appreciation for those who have gone before and made it possible for all of us to start on better footing that our parents did, but after that it's on me.
I am middle class because I choose, and work, to be so.
Bunch also started on better footing, but he choose not to take another step from there. In fact he has taken many steps back by posting other peoples work and claiming it an act of journalism.— barlowjames1 - The company was striped by vulture capitalists and the workers pension (some $2 billion worth) was stolen. Anyone who blames this on unions is a moron.— Hamlet
- Lol I'm not even sure how to respond to this. Let me try...
Are you trying to compare the greed displayed by Republicans, who don't give a damn about anyone or anything except paying less taxes to me using an avatar for a few days? A party that pushed tax cuts through at a time when our military was ill equipped and invading Iraq? Yeah, that's a fair comparison. You have balls.— wokmaster
- Andrew Sullivan
- Blinq
- Blogorrhea
- Blonde Sagacity
- Free Republic
- Instapundit
- James Taranto
- ScrappleFace
- The Corner
- Buzzmachine
- Eat the Press
- Editor and Publisher
- Media (Huffington Post)
- Media Bloodhound
- Mickey Kaus
- Pressthink
- Romenesko
- The Inksniffer
- A List of Things Thrown Five Minutes Ago
- Above Average Jane
- BlankBaby
- Citizen Mom
- Keystone Blog
- Metroblogging Philadelphia
- Phawker
- Philadelphia - America's Hometown
- Philadelphia Will Do
- Philebrity
- Philly Future
- Phillyblog
- Phillyist
- The Clog
- The Next Mayor
- Welcome to Phillyville
- Young Philly Politics
- Afro-Netizen
- All-Spin Zone
- Atrios
- Bad Attitudes
- Billmon
- Booman Tribune
- CorrenteWire
- Fables of the Reconstruction
- iFlipFlop
- Kiko's House
- MyDD
- Philly (Dragonballyee)
- Rowhouse Logic
- Slacktivist
- Suburban Guerilla
- Tattered Coat
- upyernoz
- AmericaBlog
- Andy Borowitz
- BuzzFlash
- Crooks and Liars
- Cursor
- Daily Kos
- David Sirota
- Drudge Report
- Echidne of the Snakes
- Fire Dog Lake
- Glenn Greenwald
- Hullabaloo
- Jesus' General
- Jon Swift
- Josh Marshall
- Juan Cole
- Kevin Drum
- Mad Kane
- Majikthise
- Matthew Yglesias
- Oliver Willis
- Raw Story
- Swing State Project
- Talk Left
- Taylor Marsh
- TBogg
- The Carpetbagger Report
- Think Progress
- War and Piece
- Wonkette
- A Citizen's Blog
- Balls, Sticks and Stuff
- Beer Leaguer
- Dick Polman
- Phillies Nation
- Philling Station
- Shallow Center
- The 700 Level
- The Good Phight
