Epic Fail Ethics

Hostess Steals From Employee Pensions. Blames Pensions for Company’s Demise.

Speaking of unhinged. I almost came unhinged reading this.

Hostess Brands acknowledged for the first time in a news report Monday that the company diverted workers' pension money for other company uses.

The bankrupt baker told The Wall Street Journal that money taken out of workers' paychecks, intended for their retirement funds, was used for company operations instead. Hostess, which was under different management at the time the diversions began in August 2011, said it does not know how much money it took.

The hubris of Hostess management is astonishing.

Hostess executives have spent the last several weeks crusading for the right to cut employee pensions while also divvying up retention bonuses for company executives who will oversee the company's liquidation.

Now it turns out some of those pensions have already been diverted to cover other costs.

Even more dumbfounding is the fact that company management dipped into employee pensions to cover costs and still did not manage to save the company from bankruptcy. And they expect us to believe employee benefits are blame for the company's demise? How can that be the case if you've already stolen from them?

When searching for the words to describe the darkly comical nature of this situation, the only words that come to mind are a very somber utterance of "holy shit." The gross mismanagement, ineptness, and arrogance is truly breathtaking. And they tell me business is always run better than government.