Senator Bernie Sanders is known for championing progressive ideas and pushing for a more socialist-leaning approach to governing. The recent way he has gone off the rails on a major company, however, has many people perplexed – because it’s something that we don’t often see from him. It’s a change of pace from his usual tactics, making people sit up and take notice. It’s Not very often people see progressives go after big companies.
It seems hypocritical for Senator Bernie Sanders to condemn Southwest Airlines for its ‘corporate greed’ when he generally supports big government spending designed to bolster the biggest players in any field. His plans don’t help those that need it most, instead choose to line the pockets of those that wouldn’t miss a few extra crumbs. Though this mindset didn’t start with Sanders, it’s still difficult to watch him rail against corporate America while simultaneously missing the irony of what he advocates for.
Newsmax reports, Senator Bernie Sanders, a frequent critic of big business, but a supporter of government spending initiatives as a self-proclaimed Democrat-socialist, called out Southwest’s government bailout as wasteful and abusive.
Let’s first find out what really happened before the senator went-off the rails. Here’s a message from the CCEO to address the chaos.
After the chaotic holiday, Sanders took to Twitter to blast the company he opted to bail out during the pandemic saying, “Corporate greed is Southwest getting a $7 billion bailout during the pandemic & spending $5.6 billion on stock buybacks to enrich wealthy shareholders, while stranded passengers are threatened with jail time for the crime of trying to rebook canceled flights during the holidays.”
Despite earning $759 million in net income through September, Southwest, 2022’s most profitable U.S. airline, expects to return to normal operations Friday after a week of widespread flight cancellations which started with a winter storm and spiraled out of control due to staffing and technology problems.
About 2,350 Southwest flights will be canceled Thursday if the Southwest crisis ends on Thursday, nearly 60% of the airline’s schedule.
Southwest declined to say how many people have been affected, but it is likely far more than 1 million have had a flight canceled.
FlightAware reports the airline has canceled more than 13,000 flights since Dec. 22. During the Christmas and New Year’s holidays, its planes were likely nearly full.
Bernie may try to act surprised about the big companies receiving government funding and bailouts during the pandemic, but his surprise is merely a show. Everyone knows that Bernie has enabled these very same corporations and their shady practices for years now. It’s just too late in the game for him to come out and pretend he’s against it. This half-hearted attempt at calling them out only serves as a distraction from the reality of it all: while small business owners suffered immensely, huge corporations were granted taxpayer money helping to keep them afloat. People haven’t forgotten this, Bernie; we know you’re right on board with corporate profiteering. You may as well save us all some time and spare us with your lousy theater.
Let’s continue this conversation, in the comments below.
