Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown refreshingly came out slamming our corporate state of being for the derailment as he should.
Sherrod Brown tells the inconvenient truth.
Senator Sherrod Brown did not hold back as he let Norfolk Southern have it. He pointed out that instead of investing in the safety of their operations, they used their profits for stock buybacks and dividends.
“The EPA administrator and the governor say that the municipal water and the air, they are both safe,” host Pamela Brown said. “But, residents, they are worried about contamination, and some say they have gotten rashes, sore throats, nausea, and headaches, as I just pointed out. Senator Brown, you were just there this week on Thursday? Should the residents of East Palestine accept the assurances from the government, or are they right to be skeptical?”
That is all the Senator needed to unleash himself against corporate malfeasance. After a few words, he appropriately launched into corporations.
“So, this is — Pamela, this is really the same old story,” Brown said with passion. “Corporations do stock buybacks, they do big dividend checks, they lay off workers. Thousands of workers have been laid off from Norfolk Southern. Then they don’t invest in safety rules and safety regulations, and this kind of thing happens.”
The Senator got to the core.
“That’s why people in East Palestine are so upset,” Brown continued. “They know they have — they know that corporate lobbyists have had far too much influence in our government. And they see this as the result. And this kind of thing shouldn’t happen. There was also a Norfolk Southern derailment in Sandusky on Lake Erie in Ohio. There was one just a few days ago in Detroit. These things are happening because the — these — the railroads are simply not investing the way they showed in car safety and in the rail lines themselves.”
Sherrod Brown warned residents that as Norfolk Southern tries to buy them off with $1000 checks, take it but do not sign away your rights to sue. The Senator did not leave Congress blameless. He is well aware that many of them are on the corporate take.
