10 Greediest People in America

[geardaddy]

http://www.alternet.org/10-greediest-people-america

10. Angela Spaccia: Pint-Sized Pilfering

We start this year’s top ten with garden-variety greed, the sort that inevitably grows in the shadows of escalating grand fortunes. In that shade, people in positions of modest power and authority regularly — and clumsily — try to emulate the avaricious high and mighty they see all around them.

In Bell, a small Los Angeles County working class community, that modest power and authority once belonged to Angela Spaccia. As Bell’s assistant city manager for a seven-year span that ended in 2010, Spaccia helped stuff hundreds of thousands of dollars into the pockets of the city’s top officials, including herself. Spaccia in one year alone took in $564,000.

Prosecutors eventually caught up with Spaccia and her pals. Her boss, the Bell city manager, cut a plea deal in October to 69 corruption charges. He pulled in $1.18 million in his most lucrative year. Spaccia chose to go to trial instead, claiming she did nothing illegal.

“Everyone’s greedy,” her defense attorney argued in November. “There’s no crime in taking too much money.”

Jurors disagreed. Last week, they found Spaccia guilty on multiple counts of criminal behavior, including one misappropriation of public funds designed to pump $15.5 million in pension checks to Spaccia and her boss.

More at link.

[SomethingFishy]

1. Ok this pissed me off to no end.. Especially the Boeing thing...

How is it possible that they are in a position to blackmail anyone? Boeing says "if you don't give us subsidies and let us cut workers pay we are moving our plant".

Why is the response not "Fuck You! move! And we'll pull these contracts:

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/boeing-awarded-904-42m-government-212245127.html (904 million)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/innovations/post/nasa-awards-multimillion-dollar-contracts-to-boeing-spacex-and-sierra-nevada-for-human-spaceflight/2012/08/03/a40938c0-dd89-11e1-af1d-753c613ff6d8_blog.html (460 million)

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/25/business/25tanker.html?_r=0 (35 billion)

http://www.theflyonthewall.com/permalinks/entry.php/BAid1921173/BA-Boeing-awarded-M-government-contract (325 million)

http://boeing.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=20295&item=2099(370 million)

There are pages and pages of this shit. Billions in contracts going to this company and they are somehow in a position to fuck over their workers and blackmail the government?

This country needs some radical change.