CIO Cio President Says Companies Are Committing Economic Treason; Is He Right?
DAVID ASMAN: Fighting words from a union boss. AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka this week claiming America’s jobs creators have given up on America and are committing “economic treason” for sitting on more than a trillion dollars. Rich – any issues with what Mr. Trumka said? RICH KARLGAARD: Well yeah, this is just widely irresponsible. Treason is a crime that is punishable by the death penalty; it’s equal to murder. So to toss a word like treason around to describe why companies are rationally saving money and banks are constrained in their loan making is just outrageous. It echoes back to the bad days of the 60s and 70s, the Hoffa years, when unions were thugs. I thought we got beyond that, but apparently not. QUENTIN HARDY: I have a slightly more benign view of freedom of speech than Rich does. It’s a throwaway line in a speech. It’s not a call to arms to go to the barricades. I think you can blow that kind of thing out of proportion. And I do see his point too. You know, Bush told p
