A federal bankruptcy court judge on Friday said he would approve OxyContin-maker Purdue Pharma’s latest deal to settle thousands of lawsuits over the toll of opioids that includes some money for thousands of victims of the epidemic.
The deal overseen by US bankruptcy judge Sean Lane would require some of the multibillionaire members of the semi-reclusive Sackler family who own the company to contribute up to $7bn and give up ownership of the Connecticut-based firm.
The new agreement replaces one the US supreme court rejected last year, finding it would have improperly protected members of the family against future lawsuits. The judge said he would explain his decision in a hearing on Tuesday.
That would be a very fair assessment if the entire system weren’t rigged for the benefit of corporations and the very wealthy. Mitt Romney said thay “corporations are people too” so I’d like to see them get death sentences as well.
Much like racism, the solution isn’t to rig it in the other direction, the solution is to unrig it.
There should absolutely be a corporate death penalty. Perhaps the same process should be used for anything too big to fail. Nationalize the company, All existing shareholders and equity owners get wiped out. Then either wind down operations or appoint an interim administrator and interim directors, then issue a new stock offering the proceeds of which first pay back any taxpayer expenses or bailouts, then pay back creditors, then used as capital for the company.
That’s what should have happened to all the banks that got bailed out. Wipe out anybody who held the stock, fire management, then issue new stock for purchase, the proceeds of which pay back the bailout.
If nothing else this would make investors take a much more active interest in the malfeasance of the companies they invest in.