News of corporations going under and US workers losing their jobs, well ... it hardly registers as news anymore, except that is, with the workers, their friends and their families who are losing their incomes, homes, savings, health care, pensions ... plans for the kids ... kids' dreams of college & career .... In news of the Hostess Bakery Corp. going under there is all of that misery for so many working people - and it's symbolic. Heck, for folks my age, Twinkies and Wonder Bread are as "American" (and about as nutritious) as hotdogs and apple pie and baseball. But the 82 year old Hostess baking company's treatment of workers is not as sweet as their Twinkees.

The Crime: First the managers slashed the wages of their already underpaid workers by 30%; then when the workers went on strike, their sweet Hostess decided to "teach the workers a lesson" and the Corporate State's judge approved. serving them up as an example of what happens when workers defy their masters. Hostess declared bankruptcy, shut down operations, stole the money, ran and left 18,000 workers and their families without jobs ... destitute ... with the holidays just around the corner.

The Union: The Teamsters, living down to their reputation had already forced wage and benefit cuts of 8 percent 17 percent respectively upon their own membership, "to save the company." They did this in exchange for their own seats on the Board of Directors. Then they attempted to force the workers to sign a final contract that would have left workers impoverished and the workers refused.

Thieves in Management: Instead, of "saving the company" with the gains from wage and benefit cuts, management pocketed the money and gave themselves raises. 19 senior managers are to receive $1.75 million in incentive bonuses and the CEO's annual package went from $750,000 to $2.550,000 before they demanded further cuts with bankruptcy as the end game.

The Bankers: One bankruptcy banker told presiding judge, Robert Drain that if he agreed to the bankruptcy, what remains of the company could be sold for $2.4 billion. Now the vultures are circling the carcass. One of them, banker Joshua Scherer of Perella Weinberg Partners, said that they've already had more than 12 interested buyers, calling it “a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to get iconic brands separate from their legacy operators.”

Blaming the Victims: Meanwhile, the corporate media is doing their job, blaming the crime on the victims. Associated Press quotes Hostess CEO Gregory Rayburn,

""We deeply regret the necessity of today's decision, but we do not have the financial resources to weather an extended nationwide strike, "Although many workers decided to cross picket lines this week, Hostess said it wasn't enough to keep operations at normal levels; three plants were closed earlier this week. Rayburn said Hostess was already operating on thin margins and that the strike was a final blow. "The strike impacted us in terms of cash flow. The plants were operating well below 50 percent capacity and customers were not getting products," Rayburn said.

It's cynical of obviously and Rayburn did not happen to mention that this was their second bankruptcy since 2004 when they filed chapter 11 and went through "restructuring" for 4 ½ years. Management failed, millions of dollars walked away in hand with "restructuring specialists" and the company ended up controlled by hedge funds, Silver Point Capital and Monarch Alternative Capital. But all that of course had nothing to do with their decision to go bankrupt in 2012, right?

Rayburn further demonstrated his contempt for the workers by posting a message on the Hostess company website stating there will be "severe limits" on the assistance the company could offer workers - because of the bankruptcy. He added, "The strike impacted us in terms of cash flow ... There's no other alternative."

Some workers told CNN Money that at the wages and benefits offered by Hostess, their jobs "simply were not worth saving." In classic capitalist undermining of the workers, Jordan Weissmann responded to the workers in the liberal mag, Atlantic, "If that was really the prevailing opinion, it's a pity, because a lot of people at that company did seem to believe their jobs were valuable enough to hold onto, even if at a lesser pay grade." He offered no source or support for this throwaway statement, only that "a lot of people ... seem to believe" it.

Jerry White summed up what should be done: