The Spark

the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist

“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx

“Goodwill” for EMD

Mar 7, 2011

Caterpillar just reported to the Securities & Exchange Commission that it paid 890 million dollars for Electro Motive Diesel (EMD) out of the ready cash it happened to have on hand. It said 286 million dollars or one third of that price was “goodwill” or the amount they paid over the fair value of the assets. It attributed a big part of that “goodwill” to the “acquired assembled workforce.” They talk of the workers as if they were buying slaves. Since they paid an extra 286 million to get access to EMD workers, they can afford to pay up in the coming contract!