Delta CEO on ending NRA discount: "our values are not for sale"
Source: Axios
Alayna Treene 11 mins ago
Delta CEO Edward Bastian defended the company's decision to cut ties with the NRA, in an internal memo to employees0 Friday, despite Georgia Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle's promise to kill any tax legislation that benefit's the airline if they do so:
Our decision was not made for economic gain and our values are not for sale.
Delta CEO Edward Bastian
Link to tweet
###
Read more: https://www.axios.com/delta-doubles-down-on-cutting-off-nra-our-values-are-not-for-sale-1520006947-39b0cc72-7204-4b1c-91cf-9d08ffeb6dd8.html?source=sidebar
Turbineguy
(37,386 posts)Republicans would never understand that.
Raster
(20,998 posts)...EVERYTHING is for sale in Rethuglandia. Everything... your sainted Mother's virtue, your Father's good name. Your children's future, your family's illustrious past. Your patriotism. Your optimism. Everything is for sale.
mountain grammy
(26,663 posts)Rethuglandia for sure.
lagomorph777
(30,613 posts)maybe
geardaddy
(24,931 posts)While I applaud Delta on this move, their record on unions is shit.
Mr.Bill
(24,346 posts)geardaddy
(24,931 posts)Volaris
(10,275 posts)Since in this case the answer is (-)X, instead of (+)X, it's what they're gonna do.
I suppose they should get credit for being smart enough to do GOOD marketing, instead of bad...but it's still about Brand and Marketing and profit margins/loss, instead of Morals, no matter how it might otherwise look.
If it's decided by Corporate America that there's money to be made in pissing off the nation's conservatives, I promise you the GOP will be a dead entity in less than 10 more years heh.
Steerpike
(2,692 posts)This man has all my respect! If Georgia decides to punish them financially, some other state will step up and woo them away...causing job and financial loss to that sad state.
nycbos
(6,039 posts)Delta's business model is partly based on routing flights through ATL.
It would likely take years to change.
Gothmog
(145,751 posts)gopiscrap
(23,766 posts)rednecks to go blow
angrychair
(8,749 posts)Republicans just pissed in your face and your response is to say we did it to remain neutral?!? Thats a cowards response. These people are killing us!
The time to remain neutral has passed. You are either on the right side of history or you are on the side that just tried to blackmail you. There is no middle ground anymore. You dont get to sit on the fence because your afraid of the wolves.
ProfessorGAC
(65,318 posts)That one piece seems a little CYA, but he could have not gone public at all, and now he's telling those loser legislators to shove it.
He clearly indicated that they didn't want to be see as in association with the NRA. Can't get much more explicit than that.
This letter seems the opposite of cowardly, despite the early weasel words.
vkkv
(3,384 posts)ProfessorGAC
(65,318 posts)They made the decision to rescind the discount. That was a bold move.
Then they got hit with retribution and now they're saying the Georgia legislators can pound sand, because they're reminding those morons what they mean to that state.
I see one weasel word phrase. I can't make the whole letter cowardly.
angrychair
(8,749 posts)But he obviously tried to mitigate their position and kissed Deals ass in the process, who will sign the bill that blackmails Delta.
Sorry, my original response stands: either you are in the fight against republicans and their death and choas cult or not. There is no neutral ground anymore.
ProfessorGAC
(65,318 posts)Or to that effect. The letter is not neutral nor was the decision to rescind the discount. That's why we don't see it the same.
LanternWaste
(37,748 posts)People also think the Dems removing CHP from the line of fire in Jan was a cowardly thing to do and giving into the GOP-- yet never offered explanation nor evidence to support that premise.
I can't really afford absolutists lacking the concept of nuance any credibility... especially when they attempt to reinforce their narrative with a cold plate of eleven-year old "you're either with us or against" detritus.
I fully realize the mental convenience of confusing foresight and cowardice, yet that convenience still adds no validity nor credibility to an absurd premise.
angrychair
(8,749 posts)Republicans did.
Republicans were willing to kill little kids to make a point and Democrats were not.
Kids got healthcare which is great. I get it.
Doesnt change the fact that millions of innocent people continue to be deported and the privilege to be the proverbial political can that gets kicked down the road with no resolution in sight.
There will be a political price for Democrats for those decisions, hopefully the political calculus was right and we can pay it.
Democrats didnt blackmail Delta for their decision, republicans did.
Making excuses about staying neutral and kissing Deals ass who will sign the bill that includes the blackmail attempt of Delta, is hollow and ineffective.
Call it what you want, there is no middle ground on gun control. We have living examples of how effective removing most guns and creating tough controls on gun ownership is on stopping mass murders.
Half-ass measures are ineffective (purchase age to 21? How many mass school shootings in the last 20 years were done by a person under 21 who legally purchased that weapon themselves? One. Including private and gun show sales with background checks? How many mass shootings in the last 20 years were done by a person that would have been stopped from owning that gun from a background check? None)
At the end of the day half measures and compromising and sitting on the fence and saying youre neutral when you need to CYA, isnt going to fix the problem.
Getting the guns and strong laws on gun ownership (registration, licensing and restrictions on types of guns limited to hunting and target practice only and annual re-certification on proper handling and gun safety) are the only things that are actually going to fix the issue.
Firestorm49
(4,037 posts)Im confident that there are many other states that would welcome Delta Airlines Head quarters.
Dont back down, Delta.
Ilsa
(61,709 posts)Parenthood and other liberal causes. The tv host said they had researched that and could not find any evidence of it. The idiot politician in the Georgia Assembly maintained it was true.
DFW
(54,465 posts)Tell any lie, no matter how ridiculous or easily disprovable. Shout it loudly and frequently, and then ignore the subject and move on to he next lie.
The lies will be the lead-off stories in the papers and on TV. The debunking of them will be on page ten of the paper two days later, and get honorable mention from Rachel Maddow. Their base does not read page ten of ANY paper (unless it's the sports section), and they don't watch Rachel. They not only watch Fox Noise exclusively, they actually believe what they hear.
BobTheSubgenius
(11,572 posts)Even when they don't TOTALLY get away with it, it's still a win, because they left some people convinced of their lie, and some on the fence.
It's a metaphorical take on the old "If it bleeds, it leads" news adage, and a bald-faced use of "Lie on Page 1, apologize on Page 6...if circumstances demand it." Unfortunately, it's the truth that's doing the bleeding.
it's like these politicians forget that kind of propaganda works only on people stupid enough to support Trump and the NRA
Initech
(100,118 posts)Major Nikon
(36,827 posts)I'm pretty sure everything they do boils down to money, including this move and the one before it. That's not to say the results aren't positive and commendable, but the idea that a multi-billion $ corporation holds ethics above profit just isn't all that convincing.
flamingdem
(39,333 posts)Full quote below. I agree that $ will decide before values with most corporations.
http://www.brownsvilleherald.com/news/business/delta-ceo-insists-we-are-not-taking-sides-in-us/article_554be495-0ee9-5bc8-bd5d-79865edf7194.html
--- snip
Deal, a term-limited Republican serving his final year, swiftly and quietly signed the tax bill, tweeting that he immediately wanted Georgia taxpayers to reap savings on their 2017 income tax returns. He made no mention of the Delta controversy.
Other Republicans weren't so quiet.
"We had to send a message," state Sen. Michael Williams, another GOP gubernatorial candidate, told "Fox & Friends" on Friday. He said Delta had "tried to interfere in the legislative process."
Delta isn't the only company to take action since the Feb. 14 slayings of 17 students and educators in Parkland, Florida, by a gunman armed with an AR-15 assault-style rifle. Walmart, Kroger and Dick's Sporting Goods have tightened their gun sales policies. Meanwhile, MetLife, Hertz and others have joined Delta in ending business ties with the NRA.
Pro-gun lawmakers may have won a legislative victory in Georgia, where Delta is one of the largest employers with 33,000 employees statewide. But the threat of losing a hefty tax break failed to budge Delta from its decision to distance itself from the NRA.
"Our decision was not made for economic gain and our values are not for sale," Bastian said in his memo to employees.
The fuel-tax exemption was worth at least an estimated $38 million to Delta and other airlines. It hadn't been controversial until Delta crossed the NRA last weekend.
"I hope they are better at flying airplanes than timing P.R. announcements," said Georgia House Speaker David Ralston, a Republican.
The Senate passed the broader tax measure 44-10 Thursday after it was stripped of the fuel tax exemption, with Democrats accounting for all of the no votes. The House which had passed an earlier version with the jet fuel exemption before the Delta controversy erupted followed with a 135-24 vote.
Republican Gov. Nathan Deal criticized the Delta controversy as an "unbecoming squabble" but said he would sign the broader tax measure in whatever form it passed.
The Delta provision barely came up Thursday in either legislative chamber during debate on the underlying tax bill, designed in part to give back to Georgia taxpayers $5.2 billion in extra state revenue expected over the next five years because of the recent federal tax overhaul.
Cagle took a softer tone in celebrating the victory Thursday.
"Obviously the political environment does sometimes get a little testy, but in the end, it's all about the product," said Cagle, who is running this year to succeed the term-limited governor. "And the product we have today is something that all of us can be very proud of."
Among Democrats voting against the tax bill was Sen. Nikema Williams of Atlanta, who applauded companies that have taken swift action on guns after the Florida tragedy. She said Delta's decision to end its NRA discounts led her to support the jet fuel tax break.
"The small steps that Delta and Dick's Sporting Goods are taking, to take a stand and say enough is enough, is what we all need to be doing as adults," Williams said. "We're the leaders of this state and we need to be coming together for solutions, not bullying corporations who are trying to do the right thing."
Critics of the GOP effort to retaliate against Delta have warned it could backfire by harming Georgia's ability to lure businesses including Amazon, which recently named Atlanta a finalist in its search for a second headquarters.
"It definitely could have an effect when an outside company looks at something that happens this quickly around election time to one of the largest employers in the state," said William Hatcher, a professor at Augusta University who studies economic development. "But will it be the dominant factor? I don't think so."
mn9driver
(4,428 posts)The tax break was in fact controversial before the NRA kerfuffle:
https://www.myajc.com/news/local-education/tax-cut-for-delta-other-airlines-fuels-protest-clayton-schools/qffgoPGXmZs7Pn3qMIiegL/
flamingdem
(39,333 posts)for pointing that out
LisaM
(27,847 posts)It's the one I fly most often, and I like them. When I needed to change a flight that I'd booked through Expedia, they took $250 off my ticket, and that is not small change to me.
Everyone I've worked with there has been first rate. They are also the airline I used to use for my dogs, when I had them, and they treated them extremely well.
Major Nikon
(36,827 posts)But make no mistake they are going to base their decisions on the prospects of their share price.
dhill926
(16,377 posts)good for them. No, not perfect....but good....
Odoreida
(1,549 posts)Let alone so widespread.
defacto7
(13,485 posts)This is the message I want to hear from all corporations I do business with.
"Our values are not for sale." That would make a great slogan or a call to stand firm for everyone.
GaryCnf
(1,399 posts)Brother Buzz
(36,486 posts)niyad
(113,701 posts)mn9driver
(4,428 posts)Around 33,000 employees in Georgia.
niyad
(113,701 posts)Cognitive_Resonance
(1,546 posts)of minor price or convenience factors. I hope they move as much of their operations as possible out of Georgia.
bitterross
(4,066 posts)I may be too cynical, but it really all does still come down to money. Either Delta can afford to buy better politicians and get what they want or they think the politicians they've already bought will come through for them in the end.
Cold War Spook
(1,279 posts)and then spread the rumor that Atlanta had the deal until Delta.