Political Quotes

“People are scared to death precisely because of what the gentleman is saying. Because if they stand up for their rights, their company is going to say, we do not need you anymore. We are going to Mexico; we are going to China. Ultimately I think, after all of this discussion, after all of what is said and done, it seems to me our challenge is a very simple one. It is to tell corporate America that they no longer have the right to run all over the world and throw American workers out on the street and then be able to bring their products back into this country duty free. You do not have to be a genius to know that you would make a lot more money paying a Mexican kid or a Chinese young lady 20 or 30 cents an hour than paying an American worker a living wage. And the problem is, we have allowed them to do that. We have allowed them to run all over the world. And the end result is what the chart of the gentleman from Michigan [Mr. Bonior] tells us, corporate profits are soaring. The end result is what Business Week told us two weeks ago, that the top CEO's in this country saw an increase in their compensation last year of 54 percent, and they now earn 209 times what the average American worker earns. I had not realized that one person is worth 209 times more than another person, that their children are worth 209 times more than the children of a worker. It is obscene. It is wrong.”