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.
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.
That’s a grrat solution. Sadly, that means it won’t ever be implemented.
In some ways we as a society are afraid of change. A solution like I propose would require a serious rethink of major capital investors. Even if it was only limited to companies needing a bailout, it would make investors sit up and take notice on what their holdings are actually doing.
I think it should also be done in extreme cases where the company flagrantly violated the law. Forget the usual million dollar fine for a company that spends more on office supplies. Forget the billion-dollar fine that takes a hit on the financials. Wipe the owners out.
I think Purdue might be a good case for that. The company clearly and blatantly violated every legal and ethical standard and destroyed lives as a result.
You’re right but it’s more than just fear of change. The people who abuse the status quo and therefore have the most to lose if such a chanhe is implemented also own all the major media outlets. They would unleash a storm of disinformation and propaganda that would blackball any measure even remotely reminiscent of this for three venerations the very moment it was seriously proposed by a politician. Not to mention a smear campaign against said politician, possibly including fabricating evidence of criminal activity.