The Fight Over The Redwoods Summary

Throughout the compromises history, Drexel Burnham Lambert helped Charles Hurwitz take over Pacific Lumber for $900 million. In “The Fight over the Redwoods,” the author states, “Hurwitz had United Savings purchase huge amounts of risky bonds from Drexel. [Also, as a result of savings and loans failing], taxpayers were stuck with a bill for $1.6 billion dollars.” From this compromise the company gets money, and the trees don’t get cut down.The compromise itself started in 1999 between Charles Hurwitz, Senator Dianne Feinstein, and Deputy John Garamendi concerning the Headwater’s Grove purchase for $480 million dollars. In accordance with utilitarian ethical theories, many innocent people were impacted by this takeover. Individuals were now stakeholders that were dragged into the situation, held accountable for their actions, and as a result dealt with severe financial consequences. …show more content…
Other stakeholders include Pacific Lumber’s and Maxxam Inc employees and families. To get more specific, people within the taxpayer’s group are people and locals who participate in leisure activities within the forest, along with scientists who study the Redwoods forests. In the long run, karma caught up with Maxxam, because he ended up $900 million dollars in debt, which is the same amount he paid to take over Pacific Lumber. However, debt no concern to Maxxam. He continued down his unethical path when he fully replaced Pacific Lumber’s pension plans with annuities that were bought from an insurance company owned by Hurwitz. This brings up the need for ethics in business structures and financing, which is also important as minimizing