Union Bosses Caught on Camera at Pricey Caribbean Conference

close

Video

Union Bosses Caught on Camera at Pricey Caribbean Conference

No complaints from 'Occupy' protesters?

DISCLAIMER: THE FOLLOWING "Cost of Freedom Recap" CONTAINS STRONG OPINIONS WHICH ARE NOT A REFLECTION OF THE OPINIONS OF FOX NEWS AND SHOULD NOT BE RELIED UPON AS INVESTMENT ADVICE WHEN MAKING PERSONAL INVESTMENT DECISIONS. IT IS FOX NEWS' POLICY THAT CONTRIBUTORS DISCLOSE POSITIONS THEY HOLD IN STOCKS THEY DISCUSS, THOUGH POSITIONS MAY CHANGE. READERS OF "Cost of Freedom Recap" MUST TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR THEIR OWN INVESTMENT DECISIONS.

UNION BOSSES CAUGHT ON CAMERA AT PRICEY CARIBBEAN CONFERENCE

Charles Payne: Hypocrisy is a perfect word for this. I always thought Occupy Wall Street and unions were strange bedfellows. If these occupy kids are against greed and people taking advantage of things, they have to be against some of these unions-particularly, the big union bosses. You could argue greed by unions killed the auto industry, the trucking industry, and is hurting the airline industry. The bosses in the unions live the life that only the "one percent" could even recognize.

Charlie Gasparino: Why would they bite the hand that feeds them? Particularly, the New York City Federation of Teachers and other unions are financing the Occupy Wall Street movement. They've donated a lot of money to them; they've raised money for them. They've catered events; they've given them office space near Zuccotti Park. If the business owners around there have a beef with the Occupy Wall Street people, they should have a beef with the New York City United Federation of Teachers. It's just abominable that they financed this mess for so long.

Ben Stein: You cannot fault the union members for wanting to get out of the cold in the East Coast and go down to Puerto Rico. What you could say is, with so many of our members out of work, is this really a good idea to be living it up in Puerto Rico at a fancy resort? That doesn't show much sensitivity. Next time they should go to Palm Springs-no humidity.

Dagen McDowell: Where do you think the breeding of this hypocrisy comes from? How many times have you heard the words "fat cats" come out of the president's mouth in the last several years?

Adam Lashinsky: I think this conversation is a distraction and an opportunity to say nasty things about unions. I think that banks should be allowed to have meetings in fancy resorts and entertain their clients, or have off sights for their executives. If someone wants to criticize that as bad behavior, then criticize them for it. The protesters should criticize this and say this isn't good behavior.

HOUSE HEARING SET ON POSSIBLE COVER-UP OF VOLT SAFETY ISSUES

Charles Payne: This is not as egregious as, per say, the miles and miles of wind turbines that don't work. By the way, have you seen the solar farm that Warren Buffet bought that the administration is going to back with a whole lot of money? Twelve permanent jobs. It's a shame and it's a sham. This Volt has really turned out to be a nightmare and GM said they would buy them back.

Charlie Gasparino: We do know that they're ideologically blind. They're blinded to the downside here. Not only that, but they're blind to the fact that it doesn't work.

Ben Stein: I've always been very suspicious of electric cars. The batteries are extremely lethal when they're disposed of. They stay lethal for one hundred years. The long-term effect on the environment is devastatingly bad. I'm not sure why we have them in the first place.

Dagen McDowell: You start worrying when stuff starts catching on fire because we own more than one quarter of this company and then you're talking about liability. Then you're talking about our money on the line when people start possibly suing General Motors. $5 billion dollars and all these incentives to all these electric car companies-this is part of the agenda. And it doesn't make an economic sense. I've said that all along. By the way, GM cooked this puppy up before we ever even bailed them out. It goes back to 2006.

Adam Lashinsky: I've figured out that I'm the only optimistic person on this program. The rest of you want to see the Koreans and the Chinese win the electric car and the electric battery game. There's nothing to uncover here. The administration absolutely wants the Chevy Volt and electric batteries in the United States to succeed. That's what that republican house committee will find. If they broke safety rules then they'll get in trouble for that. That's not, I'm sure, what the administration wanted.

CORZINE ON MISSING FUNDS: I DON'T KNOW WHERE THE MONEY IS

Charles Payne: This is still bewildering to me. $1.2 million of customer money is missing and he didn't know anything. It just seems like he was sitting at a big desk and every time they'd put a piece of paper in front of him, he signed it.

Charlie Gasparino: Corzine may ultimately be right-that those European countries may get bailed out. The history of Jon Corzine is that he's a bad risk manager. What people forget is the unprecedented nature of what happened at MF Global. He made a bad deal on European debt because bailouts never go in a straight line. It's not just that. You don't lose money in customer accounts. That never happens. It didn't happen at Lehman. Those were bigger implosions. I don't think it happened at Drexel.

Ben Stein: I think the bet is going to turn out to be an extremely good bet, but to lose that money is simply inexcusable.

Dagen McDowell: If you're thinking about putting your faith in government-if you're buying treasuries you're doing just that-putting your faith in the hands of the lawmakers that they will right our financial problem. That is a very dangerous bet. You're loaning the government money at 2 percent a year over ten years. That's stupid.

Adam Lashinsky: Sovereign debt has been a good investment for a very, very long time. This wasn't one of them, so far.

STRONG STOCKS

Charles Payne: Deere and Company (DE)

Ben Stein: Exxon Mobil (XOM)

Adam Lashinsky: IBM Corp (IBM)