Corporate America Has No Shame

Today's mantra: Don't blame us, blame the government
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 24, 2010 10:16 AM CDT
Corporate America Has No Shame
Don Blankenship, chairman and chief executive officer of Massey Energy.   (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

Corporate America has "lost its sense of shame," writes Dana Milbank. Exhibit A is Don Blankenship of coal giant Massey Energy, who complained that federal regulations make it hard for companies to "pursue their careers, or their happiness." Aw, "poor CEO Blankenship," writes Milbank in the Washington Post. "That mean federal government is not allowing him to pursue his happiness, just because his employees are dead."

The problem is that Blankenship isn't some lone wolf. His "theme—and his complete absence of corporate responsibility—is very much the message corporate America has adopted in this mid-term campaign year: If you've got a problem, blame the government." It doesn't help that the Chamber of Commerce has shed its moderate ways and become a "radicalized corporate Tea Party," writes Milbank. Instead of being intimidated, he thinks the government should "push back." (A while back, a Louisiana congressman invoked samurai honor with a more radical suggestion. Click here.)

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