by n0madic, posted on Saturday, October 20th, 2012 at 3:34 pm
This short video clip features a comment made by Ed Schultz on Friday while in Freeport, Illinois, broadcasting live from Bainport, the site of the protest by Sensata workers and their allies over the closing of the profitable plant by Bain Capital in order to move it to China.
Ed’s comment was a simple and straightforward one: “I’m a capitalist, but I think you can cross the line between being being a capitalist and being a greedy son of a gun that hurts middle class families across America.”
The video was shot, however, by a tea party activist by the name of Ulysses S. Arn, who describes himself as “the conservative movements warrior poet.” He labeled it: “Laugher of the Week: MSNBC’s Ed Schultz ‘I’m a Capitalist'”.
Apparently conservatives like Arn think it’s laughable for a capitalist to believe that any such lines can be crossed. And it’s becoming increasingly clear that Mitt Romney thinks the rules don’t apply to people like him, either.
Perhaps it’s time for us to start calling “free market” ideologues “laissez-faire capitalists” once again, and remind ourselves why we came to the conclusion that a regulated marketplace was needed in the first place.
We turn now to Freeport, Illinois, where more people have been arrested protesting plans by Mitt Romney’s former company, Bain Capital, to shut the Sensata Technologies plant and move operations to China — a loss of 170 American jobs. On Wednesday, six people were arrested in the lobby of the plant during a sit-in demanding full severance pay for those who will lose their jobs. Last month, Senata workers set up an encampment called “Bainport” across the street from the facility to protest the company’s plan to close the plant. Last week, three protesters were arrested for blocking the path of trucks leaving the plant in an effort to stop the removal of equipment from their workplace. To find out more about the “Bainport” protest, we speak to Tom Gaulrapp, who has worked at the Sensata Technologies plant for 33 years. His last day of work at Sensata is November 5, one day before the election. The protesters have invited Romney to visit “Bainport” to address their situation.
Debi Kempel of Freeport joins Thom Hartmann. In just over a month – Sensata Technologies in Freeport, Illinois will shut its doors – thanks to Mitt Romney’s Bain Capital and it’s love of outsourcing. But workers at Sensata aren’t going quietly – and are doing all they can to bring attention to Bain Capital’s all out attack on American jobs.
Police have arrested three people for blocking the removal of equipment from the Sensata Technologies plant in Freeport, Illinois, to protest a plan by Bain Capital to close the factory and ship their jobs to China. Workers at Sensata have set up an encampment called “Bainport” across the street from the facility to protest plans to close the plant and move operations to China, taking 170 jobs with it. Sensata is owned by Bain Capital, the private equity firm co-founded by Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney. We hear from two of the detained protesters: Karri Penniston, 16, whose mother works at Sensata; and Debi Kempel, a Bainport supporter from nearby Pearl City.
Democracy Now! broadcasts from just outside a Freeport, Illinois, factory owned by Bain Capital, the private equity firm founded by Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney. Workers at Sensata Technologies have set up an encampment called “Bainport” across the street from the facility to protest the company’s plan to close the plant and move it to China, taking 170 jobs with it. The workers have been trying to get Romney to save their jobs. We’re joined by two Sensata workers, Mark Schreck and Tom Gaulrapp; and Freeport Mayor George Gaulrapp, who has supported the encampment and fended off calls for it to be shut down.
“Welcome to Bainport, a taste of the Romney economy” — that’s the message on one of the banners that greets you at the tent city where we broadcast from in Freeport, Illinois. “Bainport” is an encampment set up by workers who face losing their livelihoods when their workplace closes its doors in November and moves to China, taking 170 jobs with it. The workers’ plant, Sensata Technologies, is owned by Bain Capital, the firm co-founded by Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney. Democracy Now! first spoke to the Sensata workers when we met them at the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Florida, where they unsuccessfully tried to meet with Romney. Now, they have returned to Freeport and set up a protest camp in a bid to save their jobs. We speak to “Bainport” workers Dot Turner and Cheryl Randecker.
