climate change

By Carol Zabin, Abigail Martin, Rachel Morello-Frosch, Manuel Pastor and Jim Sadd - UC Berkeley Labor Center, September 13, 2016

California’s leadership role in climate policy has once again been confirmed by the passage of Senate Bill 32 (Pavley, 2016), which commits the state to the ambitious target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions to 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2030—staying the course to an 80-percent reduction by 2050. A central issue in the SB 32 political debate, as well as the many related policies that preceded it, is the impact of climate policy on equity: how to ensure that low-income and working-class Californians do not dis-proportionately bear the costs and are included in the benefits of California’s transition to a low-carbon economy. This report presents a Climate Policy Equity Framework to assist California decision-makers interested in reducing greenhouse gas emissions in ways that promote economic, social, and environmental equity. We suggest that policymakers, regulators, community groups, advocacy organizations, and business interests should develop a “social contract” to manage a transition to a low-carbon economy that both maximizes the benefits of low-carbon economic development and minimizes the risks to working people and disadvantaged communities. This social contract can strengthen the broad political coalition needed to stay the course on the state’s ambitious greenhouse gas reduction goals, particularly in the face of accelerating greenhouse gas emission reductions and a legal challenge to the constitutionality of California’s cap-and-trade system. The Climate Policy Equity Framework can then guide policy development and program implementation to reflect and support the social contract.

But what is climate equity? How can it be defined in a way that promotes both good jobs and prioritizes those communities that are hardest hit by climate change, multiple environmental hazards, and socio-economic stressors? What key criteria can then be used to develop and assess policies such as renewable portfolio standards, incentives for energy retrofits, cap and trade, transit-oriented development, low-carbon fuels and vehicle deployment, and much more? And finally, when faced with trade-offs between different equity criteria or tensions between environmental justice and labor interests, how can decision-makers maximize equity outcomes?

To answer these questions, this report proposes a “Climate Policy Equity Framework” that operates at three levels to:

• Articulate equity principles and goals to guide policy design;
• Present key criteria to analyze how close a particular climate policy or program comes to meeting these equity goals; and
• Propose indicators that point the way to mechanisms and strategies to advance climate equity.

We then apply these equity criteria to assess progress on environmental justice, economic equity, and public accountability goals, using the limited data currently available. Our assessment highlights positive developments, remaining challenges, and the data gaps that must be filled to facilitate more complete assessments in the future. We also apply the criteria and indicators to two specific climate policy arenas—energy efficiency and renewable energy—to illustrate how to improve the equity outcomes of specific climate policies and programs. Finally, we present a preliminary set of recommendations to illustrate some concrete opportunities for equitable climate initiatives.

Read the report (PDF).

Compiled by x344543 - IWW Environmental Unionism Caucus, June 7, 2016

A supplement to Eco Unionist News:

Lead Stories:

• The Legacy of the Obama Administration: An Interview With Noam Chomsky - By C.J. Polychroniou, Truthout, June 2, 2016
• Ecuador: power from below amidst great adversity - By CROAR, ROARMag, June 1, 2016
• Boom: North America's Explosive Oil-by-Rail Problem - By Marcus Stern and Sebastian Jones, InsideClimate News, June 2016

The Man Behind the Curtain:

• Former FERC Official Hired By Company With $1.8 Million Stake In Spectra Energy Pipeline Project He Had Reviewed - By Itai Vardi, DeSmog Blog, June 6, 2016
• Attorney Generals Investigating ExxonMobil Refuse Congress - By Michael Virtanen, Associated Press, June 5, 2016; [related]: 'Illegitimate' Request Denied: GOP Gets Middle Finger for #ExxonKnew Ploy - By Lauren McCauley, Common Dreams, June 1, 2016 
• Follow the Money: Republican Attorneys General Attack on the Clean Power Plan - By Americans United for Change, EcoWatch, June 3, 2016
• IOGCC Representatives Spout Climate Denial at ExxonMobil-Funded Meeting - By Steve Horn, DeSmog Blog, June 2, 2016 
• Introducing America Rising Squared, U.S. Republicans' "Creepy" New Assault on Climate Action - By Graham Readfearn, DeSmog Blog, May 31, 2016
• IPA renews call to abolish ARENA. But does it know why? - By Giles Parkinson, REnew Economy, May 27, 2016

Green is the New Red:

• Mining, money and murder on the South African coast - By Richard, London Mining Network, June 5, 2016
• Hillary, Honduras, and the Murder of My Friend Berta - By Porfirio Quintano, Counterpunch, May 30, 2016; [related]: Global Action “Justice for Berta Caceres”: June 15, 2016 - By COPINH, World Rainforest Movement, June 5, 2016; [and]: Correspondence with the World Bank Regarding Berta Cáceres and Large Dams - By staff, World Rainforest Movement, May 15, 2016 

Greenwashers:

• British banks backing coal - By Richard, London Mining Network, June 5, 2016
• An email trail of a carbon credit scam (part 2). Featuring 360 Invest Group, Carbon-ex, and Colemans-CTTS - By Chris Lang, REDD Monitor, June 3, 2016
• The virtual economy of REDD: Conflicts of interest, hot air, and dodgy baselines - By Chris Lang, REDD Monitor, June 2, 2016
• Obama Administration Approves Resumption of Offshore Fracking in California -  By Dan Bacher, Daily Kos, May 28, 2016

Disaster Capitalism:

• Europe’s floods come as no surprise - By Alex Kirby, Climate News Network, June 5, 2016
• Luck Rides The Rails: Another Near Miss with an "Insane" Bakken Oil Bomb Train - By Justin Mikulka, DeSmog Blog, June 5, 2016; [related]: Fire Chief: “Its Insane” to Ship Bakken Crude by Rail -  By Andy Rowell, Oil Change International, June 5, 2016; [and]: Mosier Fire Chief Calls Shipping Bakken Crude Oil By Rail 'Insane' - By Amelia Templeton, Oregon Public Broadcasting, June 4, 2016
• Fort McMurray residents rally together as families, workers return to 'devastated' city -  By Teuila Fuatai, Rabble.Ca, June 3, 2016; [related]: Thousands of oilsands workers losing pay from Alberta wildfires - By Gordon Kent, Edmonton Journal, May 21, 2016

Other News:

• Peru: Chancayanos Vow Resistance to Port’s Construction - By Conflictos Mineros, Earth First! Newswire, June 5, 2016
• Victory in Guatemala for People Against Mining - By Conflictos Mineros, Earth First! Newswire, June 5, 2016
• Credibility of Brazil’s Interim President Collapses as He Receives 8-Year Ban on Running for Office - By Glenn Greenwald, The Intercept, June 3, 2016
• Mexico: No Compromise Against Airport and Highway Construction - By Palabras Rebeldes, Earth First! Newswire, June 1, 2016

For more green news, please visit our news feeds section on ecology.iww.org; Twitter #IWWEUC; Hashtags: #greenunionism #greensyndicalism #IWW. Please send suggested news items to include in this series to euc [at] iww.org.

By Emile A. Frison - International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems - June 2016

Today’s food and farming systems have succeeded in supplying large volumes of foods to global markets, but are generating negative outcomes on multiple fronts: widespread degradation of land, water and ecosystems; high GHG emissions; biodiversity losses; persistent hunger and micro-nutrient deficiencies alongside the rapid rise of obesity and diet-related diseases; and livelihood stresses for farmers around the world.

Many of these problems are linked specifically to ‘industrial agriculture’: the input-intensive crop monocultures and industrial-scale feedlots that now dominate farming landscapes. The uniformity at the heart of these systems, and their reliance on chemical fertilizers, pesticides and preventive use of antibiotics, leads systematically to negative outcomes and vulnerabilities.

Industrial agriculture and the ‘industrial food systems’ that have developed around it are locked in place by a series of vicious cycles. For example, the way food systems are currently structured allows value to accrue to a limited number of actors, reinforcing their economic and political power, and thus their ability to influence the governance of food systems.

Tweaking practices can improve some of the specific outcomes of industrial agriculture, but will not provide long-term solutions to the multiple problems it generates.

What is required is a fundamentally different model of agriculture based on diversifying farms and farming landscapes, replacing chemical inputs, optimizing biodiversity and stimulating interactions between different species, as part of holistic strategies to build long-term fertility, healthy agro-ecosystems and secure livelihoods, i.e. ‘diversified agroecological systems’.

There is growing evidence that these systems keep carbon in the ground, support biodiversity, rebuild soil fertility and sustain yields over time, providing a basis for secure farm livelihoods.

Data shows that these systems can compete with industrial agriculture in terms of total outputs, performing particularly strongly under environmental stress, and delivering production increases in the places where additional food is desperately needed. Diversified agroecological systems can also pave the way for diverse diets and improved health.

Change is already happening. Industrial food systems are being challenged on multiple fronts, from new forms of cooperation and knowledge-creation to the development of new market relationships that bypass conventional retail circuits.

Political incentives must be shifted in order for these alternatives to emerge beyond the margins. A series of modest steps can collectively shift the centre of gravity in food systems.

Read the report (PDF).

Compiled by x344543 - IWW Environmental Unionism Caucus, May 31, 2016

A supplement to Eco Unionist News:

Lead Stories:

• It Is Time to Phase Out 9 Unnecessary Oil and Gas Tax Breaks - By staff, Center for American Progress, May 26, 2016
• Planetary Crisis: We are not all in this together - By Ian Angus, Climate and Capitalism, May 25, 2016
• Interview: Shell Must be ‘Held Accountable to the Future Now’ Says Indigenous Delegate from the Gulf of Mexico - By Kyla Mandel, DeSmog UK, May 24, 2016; [related]: Gulf Coast Activist Crashes Shell Meeting to Decry Destruction of Her Home - By Deirdre Fulton, Common Dreams, May 24, 2016
• Oil profits, pipelines and the human cost of regulatory capture - By Bruce Campbell, Rabble.Ca, May 24, 2016
• Burned By Slow Government Response To A Polluter, Residents Mistrust Cleanup Efforts - By Larry Buhl, DeSmog Blog, May 22, 2016 

The Man Behind the Curtain:

• Coalition’s great big climate hoax turns to outright denial - By Giles Parkinson, REnew Economy, May 27, 2016; [related]: Australia scrubbed from UN climate change report after government intervention - By Michael Slezak, The Guardian, May 26, 2016; [and]: Australian Government censors UNESCO report on Great Barrier Reef #ReefGate - By Jeff Englart, Storify, May 27, 2016
• Koch Controversy at George Mason University: Student Abandons Economics Major - By Connor Gibson, DeSmog Blog, May 27, 2016
• Top Obama Energy Official Says Administration Rejects “Keep It In The Ground” As Climate Strategy - By Justin Mikulka, DeSmog Blog, May 26, 2016
• CO Oil and Gas Industry Raises $6 Million To Fight Ballot Measures - By Dan Boyce, Inside Energy, May 25, 2016
• Exxon "Chose to Mislead": Granddaughter of Former Exxon Climate Scientist - By Steve Horn, DeSmog Blog, May 25, 2016; [related]: Granddaughter of Exxon Scientist Confronts CEO over Oil Giant’s Decision to Fund Climate Lies - Anna Kalinsky interviewed by Nermeen Shaikh and Amy Goodman, Democracy Now, May 26, 2016
• All Vision and No Strategy? Shell Says No Thanks to a Better Life with a Healthy Planet - By Juliet Phillips, DeSmog UK, May 24, 2016
• Brazil minister ousted after secret tape reveals plot to topple President Rousseff - By Jonathan Watts, The Guardian, May 23, 2016; [related]: Wall Street’s New Man in Brazil: The Forces Behind Dilma Rousseff’s Impeachment - By José L. Flores, Counterpunch, May 26, 2016; [and]: The MST, Brazil's Biggest Social Movement, Promises to 'Intensify' Land Occupations in Fight Against Coup - By staff, Telesur, May 25, 2016; [and]: Brazil’s impeachment crisis is bad news for climate change - By André Guimarães and Stephan Schwartzman, Grist, May 27, 2016; [also]: This Confirms It was a Coup: Brazil Crisis Deepens as Evidence Mounts of Plot to Oust Dilma Rousseff - Maria Luisa Mendonça interviewed by Juan González and Amy Goodman, Democracy Now, May 27, 2016
• Climate denial arguments fail a blind test  - By Dana Nuccitelli, The Guardian, May 23, 2016
• Houston Chronicle Business Columnist Calls for Exxon Climate Denial Investigation, Slams Paxton, Cites DeSmog Research - By Brendan DeMelle, DeSmog Blog, May 23, 2016
• Let's give up the climate change charade: Exxon won't change its stripes - By Bill McKibben, The Guardian, May 20, 2016; [related]: Bill McKibben on Exxon, the Power of Divestment, and Being Targeted by Shadowy Right-Wing Group - Bill McKibben interviewed by Amy Goodman and Nermeen Shaikh, Democracy Now, May 26, 2016
• Momentum Builds in California to Hold Fossil Fuel Companies Accountable for Climate Science Misinformation - By Jason Barbose, Union of Concerned Scientists, May 18, 2016

Green is the New Red:

• Cove Point Defender Convicted of Making False Statement to Police - By Anne Meador, DCMedia Group, May 27, 2016
• In Honduras, USAID Was in Bed with Berta Cáceres’ Accused Killers - By Gloria Jimenez, Counterpunch, May 27, 2016; [related]: Obama Urged to Stop Funding Honduran Military as Questions Grow over US Role in Berta Cáceres’ Death - Annie Bird interviewed by Amy Goodman, Democracy Now, May 24, 2016

Compiled by x344543 - IWW Environmental Unionism Caucus, May 25, 2016

A supplement to Eco Unionist News:

Lead Stories:

• We have met the wrong enemy - By KC Golden, Climate Solutions, May 22, 2016
• Corporate media isn't reporting on climate change. And it's killing us - By Nick Fillmore, Rabble.Ca, May 19, 2016
• US Government's Own Report Shows Toxic TPP "Not Worth Passing" - By Deirdre Fulton, Common Dreams, May 19, 2016
• A signal of super-fires to come - By Nicole Colson, Socialist Worker, May 18, 2016
• Only Six Years After BP Oil Disaster, Gulf Coast Is Faced With New Drilling - By Kate Stringer, Yes!, May 10, 2016

The Man Behind the Curtain:

• Exposed: Spectra-Funded Group Lobbied for FERC Commissioner's Reappointment, Then FERC Approved Spectra’s Gas Pipelines - By Itai Vardi, DeSmog Blog, May 20, 2016
• 13 House Reps Sent Letters to 17 Attorneys General and 8 NGOs Defending Exxon - By Annie Leonard, EcoWatch, May 20, 2016; [related]: Fossil Fuel Industry-Funded Attorneys General Try to Block Exxon Climate Fraud Probe - By Elliott Negin, EcoWatch, May 20, 2016; [and]: New York Attorney General To House Republicans: Are You Kidding? - By Samantha Page, Think Progress, May 20, 2016; [and]: Texas Thinks The Investigation Into Exxon Is ‘Ridiculous’ - By Samantha Page, Think Progress, May 17, 2016; [and] Texas, Alabama Attorneys General Join Exxon's Battle Against Climate Probe - By David Hasemyer, Inside Climate News, May 16, 2016
• EELI’s Anti-EPA Suit Uses 'Exhibit A’ from Tobacco's RICO Loss - By ClimateDenierRoundup, Daily Kos, May 19, 2016
• Here’s One Way The Media Confuses The Public About Climate Change - By Joe Romm, Think Progress, May 19, 2016
• Malice at Malheur: the Movement to Privatize America’s Public Lands - By William deBuys, Counterpunch, May 19, 2016
• Kochs' Grassroots Leadership Academy Training Astroturf Army - By Mary Bottari, PR Watch, May 16, 2016
• National Research Council GMO Study Compromised by Industry Ties - By Wenonah Hauter, EcoWatch, May 16, 2016
• Prominent Oceans Scientist Fails to Disclose Funding From Fishing Industry - By Zachary Davies Boren, Truthout, May 16, 2016
• The Politics of Fertilizer and the Exxons of Agriculture - By Grain, In These Times, April 28, 2016

Greenwashers:

• Greenpeace activists scale British Museum to protest BP sponsorship - By Adam Vaughan, The Guardian, May 19, 2016
• The Humane Society and the Greenwashing of the TPP - By Richard Foster, Counterpunch, May 19, 2016
• Monsanto and the Poisoning of Europe - By Colin Todhunter, Counterpunch, May 18, 2016
• Set up for failure and corporate profit? The rotten core of the Green Deal - By Sue Roberts, The Ecologist, May 18, 2016

Compiled by x344543 - IWW Environmental Unionism Caucus, May 17, 2016

A supplement to Eco Unionist News:

Lead Stories:

• Capitalism cannot solve the climate crisis - By Bill Onasch, Socialist Action, May 15, 2016
• Life and Death in a Time of Rising Shutoffs - By Caitlin Munchick, CounterPunch, May 13, 2016
• Taking on the Sacred Cow of Big “Green” Energy - By Kollibri terre Sonnenblume, CounterPunch, May 13, 2016
• The ExxonMobil refinery that exploded in L.A. last year is up and running again - By Aura Bogado, Grist, May 12, 2016
• New BLM Logging Plan Would Generate More Economic Harm than Good - By John Talberth, Center For Sustainable Economy, May 10, 2016
• Mining a Heart of Gold? Slave Wages and Humanitarianism in Africa - By Yves Engler, CounterPunch, May 9, 2016
• Panhandling and Pandering in Our National Parks - By Kirsten Stade, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, May 9, 2016
• Orthodox Economics and the Science of Climate Change - By Mariano Torras, Monthly Review, May 2016

The Man Behind the Curtain:

• Client Alert: Law Firms Tell Fossil Fuel Companies They Could Be Next in "ExxonKnew" Probe  - By Steve Horn, DeSmog Blog, May 15, 2016
• Think Facts Matter? Try Attending a Friends of Science Event Headlined by Ezra Levant - By James Wilt, DeSmog Canada, May 15, 2016
• Proof That Koch-Backed Professors Are Using Universities To Spread Right-Wing Policies - By Casey Quinlan, Think Progress, May 13, 2016; [related]: Meet the Ayn Rand Enthusiast Whose Private College Empire Reaps a Fortune From the Government - By Sarah Lazare, Alternet, May 9, 2016
• Forecasting Failure - By Greg Muttitt, David Turnbull and Lorne Stockman, Oil Change International, May 12, 2016
• "You Have Been Fooled": AGU Reopens Exxon Sponsorship Review After Stinging Letter From Sen. Whitehouse and Rep. Lieu - By Graham Readfearn, DeSmog Blog, May 12, 2016
• Coal made its best case against climate change, and lost - By staff, Skeptical Science, May 11, 2016
• Exxon's Lawyer in Climate Science Probe Has History Helping Big Tobacco and NFL Defend Against Health Claims - By Steve Horn, DeSmog Blog, May 10, 2016
• This Election Inspired a John Grisham Novel: Now It Just Got Even Weirder - By Pema Levy, Mother Jones, May 9, 2016
• "We Were Booming and Now We're Dead" — How Nevada's Solar Industry Bright Spot Turned Dark - By Larry Buhl, DeSmog Blog, May 9, 2016
• ALEC Appoints New Chair to Climate Denial Task Force - By Jamie Corey, PR Watch, May 6, 2016

By Chris Burnett - Counterpunch, May 13, 2016

The International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS) has yet to recognize, for scientific reasons, our current geological epoch as the Anthropocene, or “Age of Humans”. The term was coined by Paul Crutzen and Eugene Stoermer in 2000 due to the fact that humans are changing the face of the planet, and are clearly responsible for the current 6th mass extinction event and climate disruption. Eco-radicals – black-red-green – might prefer the term Capitalocene, or the “Age of Capital”.

The former implies that humanity is an undifferentiated whole while the latter suggests that capital, and its system of class and power relations, are the real problem, the real driving force that has altered the planet so extensively. I prefer the latter, of course, for political reasons.

There is no substitute for understanding the historical forces of capitalism that has brought us to the edge. The logic of capitalism is grow or die, and we are all being dragged towards the die part. We need targets of accountability, and we need remedies for the dispossessed. There is a biological debt that must be paid by the most rapacious among us.

But yet, I am still sympathetic to the Anthropocene label because it makes me feel personally responsible. The collective “we”. There is something unsettling about it, and we all need to be immediately unsettled. It puts the burden of action on all of us, and counterintuitively, might pull us out of our comfortable anthropocentric worldview. Eco-radicals rightly put the blame at the doorstep of capitalism and the state, but we should all feel personally responsible, in our collective guts.

There are approximately 150-200 species going extinct everyday. The background rate of the normal extinction process is roughly one to five species a year. We are at 1,000 to 10,000 times the background rate today due to human activities. As far as the last members of a doomed species might be concerned, humans are responsible, not just the capitalist class. To them, it is the Anthropocene. Might your perspective on this issue be determined by which side of the axe you are on?

If I were to anthropomorphize those lost species, they might provide us an analogy to chew on. They might say, “imagine the surviving members of countless families murdered from bombs dropped by Bush, or assassinated with drones sent by Obama. Do you think they would care about the internal political dynamics of the US after such a tragedy?”

From the survivors perspective, it is the US government, the US Empire system, that killed their relatives. Our friends pondering this analogy for us might just make the same argument in regards to the human race: “yes, okay, we understand there are class distinctions. But, from our perspective, you are the problem. You are that system.”

I am reminded of Noam Chomsky’s use of the word “we” when discussing the crimes of empire. I recall feeling defensive when he implied we all had responsibility, because, well, I opposed imperialism! But I think he was right. In his 1967 essay, The Responsibility of Intellectuals, he writes, reflecting on Dwight Macdonald’s question as to what extent the people are responsible for their own government’s crimes,

“We can hardly avoid asking ourselves to what extent the American people bear responsibility for the savage American assault on a largely helpless rural population in Vietnam… As for those of us who stood by in silence and apathy as this catastrophe slowly took shape over the past dozen years – on what page of history do we find our proper place? Only the most insensible can escape these questions.”

Continuing at the end of the essay,

“Let me finally return to Dwight Macdonald and the responsibility of intellectuals. Macdonald quotes an interview with a death-camp paymaster who burst into tears when told that the Russians would hang him. “Why should they? What have I done?” he asked. Macdonald concludes: “Only those who are willing to resist authority themselves when it conflicts too intolerably with their personal moral code, only they have the right to condemn the death-camp paymaster.” The question, “What have I done?” is one that we may well ask ourselves, as we read each day of fresh atrocities in Vietnam – as we create, or mouth, or tolerate the deceptions that will be used to justify the next defense of freedom.”

That is the question we are all faced with today, “What have I done?”, as we observe fresh atrocities committed against the biosphere and all life on this planet. Only those that resist authority and capitalism have the right to condemn our modern death-camp paymasters.

By Paul Stevens - Energy, Environment and Resources, May 5, 2016

The future of the major international oil companies (IOCs) – BP, Chevron, ExxonMobil, Shell and Total – is in doubt. The business model that sustained them during the 20th century is no longer fit for purpose. As a result, they are faced with the choice of managing a gentle decline by downsizing or risking a rapid collapse by trying to carry on business as usual.

Most commentary on the IOCs’ problems has focused on the recent fall in oil prices and the growing global commitment to tackle climate change. Important though these are, the source of their predicament is not confined to such recent developments over which they have no control. Their problems are more numerous, run deeper and go back further. The prognosis for the IOCs was already grim before governments became serious about climate change and the oil price collapsed.

Read the report (Link).

By Ben Caldecott, Gerard Dericks, Daniel J. Tulloch, Lucas Kruitwagen, and Irem Kok - Oxford, May 2016

Deploying a ‘bottom up’ asset-level methodology, we analysed the exposure of all of Japan’s current and planned coal-fired power stations to environment-related risk. Planned coal capacity greatly exceeds that required for replacement - by 191%. This may result in overcapacity and combined with competition from other forms of generation capacity with lower marginal costs (e.g. nuclear and renewables), lead to significant asset stranding of coal generation assets. Stranded coal assets in Japan would affect utility returns for investors; impair the ability of utilities to service outstanding debt obligations; and create stranded assets that have to be absorbed by taxpayers and ratepayers.

Read the report (PDF).

By staff - Public Citizen, May 2016

Over the past year, three of the United States’ major coal companies filed for bankruptcy: Alpha Natural Resources in August 2015; Arch Coal in January 2016; and Peabody Energy in April 2016.3 Although these companies and their trade association allies have often blamed environmental regulations for their precarious financial state, the truth is that debt-fueled acquisitions hobbled their finances at a time when market conditions were rapidly souring. Namely, Alpha Natural Resources, Peabody Energy, and Arch Coal bet big on future Chinese coal demand growth in 2011, going into debt to finance major expansions into metallurgical coal production during the year it was at peak price, only to see markets decline soon after the transactions were complete. At the same time, top executives were awarded record financial compensation, while slashing employee benefits and laying off workers.

Read the report (PDF).