MSNBC's Chris Matthews, in a post-debate analysis, added, "I wonder if that wasn't a moment that's gonna change American political history."

In the weeks following the Sago mine disaster in West Virginia in 2006, the owner of the Utah mine where six workers remained trapped underground Tuesday called state efforts to pass stricter mine safety laws "seriously flawed, knee-jerk" reactions.

"I resent these politicians playing politics with my employees' safety," Robert E. Murray told the Columbus Dispatch in January 2006.

Murray was responding to a proposal in the Ohio legislature that would have created a mining emergency operations center and required workers to wear wireless communications devices.

Below is a link to the history of LTV steel, go down to 2001 and 2002. Please note that LTV went bankrupt in Dec 2001.  wilbur Ross bought the physical assets of LTV and not the company itself....purposefully to shed the pension and healthcare obligations of the company itself. This has enriched himm enomously....He specialized in buying distressed assets, not distressed companies...and I think my memory is right he is one of the owners of the Sago mine.

Of course this demonstrates the need for universal healthcare, but the defunding of long earned pension funds seems to be addressed by no one.  While it does demonstrate the rapacity is the primary tenet of the Republican party.

PBGC Protects Benefits of 82,000 LTV Workers In Largest-Ever Federal Pension Takeover

The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) today announced it is taking over three underfunded pension plans covering some 82,000 workers and retirees of bankrupt steel maker LTV Corp., based in Cleveland. The move comes because no purchaser of LTV assets has agreed to assume any pension liabilities and, as LTV's liquidation progresses, no one will remain at the company to manage the plans' assets and pay benefits. With combined assets of almost $2.2 billion and benefit liabilities of $4.4 billion, the plans are underfunded by about $2.2 billion, PBGC estimates.

"Termination of these LTV pension plans represents the largest trusteeship in PBGC history," said PBGC Executive Director Steven A. Kandarian. "Most LTV plan participants will receive their full basic pension from PBGC," he said, noting that federal law limits the maximum benefit payable. He also noted that monthly checks for those already retired will continue, subject to the legal limits.[...]

The three plans terminate effective March 31, 2002. The largest plan, the LTV Steel Hourly Pension Plan, covers some 65,000 participants and is underfunded by nearly $1.8 billion. The LTV Steel Salaried Defined Benefit Retirement Plan has over 14,000 participants and is underfunded by about $316 million. The LTV Steel Mining Co. Pension Plan, with about 3,500 participants, is underfunded by around $70 million. There are over 82,000 people in all three plans, including 53,000 already retired and receiving benefits.[...]

Under federal pension law, the maximum pension guaranteed for workers in plans that terminate in 2002 is $3,579.55 a month (or $42,954.60 a year) for persons retiring at age 65. Maximum guarantees are adjusted for those who retire at ages younger or older than 65 or those who elect survivor benefits. PBGC estimates that most LTV workers will receive their full basic pension benefit. However, certain recent additions to the basic benefit may not be fully guaranteed, and temporary supplements generally are not guaranteed.[...]

PBGC is a federal corporation created under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 to guarantee payment of basic pension benefits earned by more than 44 million American workers and retirees participating in over 35,000 private-sector defined benefit pension plans. The agency receives no funds from general tax revenues. Operations are financed largely by insurance premiums paid by companies that sponsor pension plans and by PBGC's investment returns.

"The main idea here is still the old idea of the American dream ... that if you work hard and play by the rules, you ought to have a decent life and a chance for your children to have a better one, " he said.