Selling Out - $1.3 Trillion of American Companies Sold to Foreign Corp.

[MORTARDUDE]

http://www.economyincrisis.org/article_15.html


I heard that IBM just sold their PC business to China as well...


>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>


Selling Out - $1.3 Trillion of American Companies Sold to Foreign Corp


The following staggering amount of our wealth producing companies has been sold to foreign owners in the 10 years from 1995 through 2005. Below is a partial list of the 8,600 U.S. companies sold.

It is critical to understand that even if these are not all familiar corporate names, they are all very valuable strategic companies with vast amounts of technology, assets, production facilities, tax base, and employment attached to each one. In fact, many of the smallest, most unfamiliar acquisitions represent some of the most significant strategic and proprietary technology losses to this country. Many of these companies took decades, and in some cases generations, to build to their size and scope prior to acquisition. Not only does the US lose control of the assets and technologies of these companies as of the date they were acquired, the US also loses all future profit and title to all future advancements of these companies.

These companies were the means through which America created much of its present wealth. With the loss of these companies and having no comparable replacement, it's easy to see that our future will not be as good as our past, especially since the countries that acquired these companies are now able to compete with us in almost all industries. Why are we doing this? Don't we have alternatives? Who is responsible, demand answers from your congressperson.

The following table lists only a few of the 8,600 foreign acquisitions during this period. The $1.3 Trillion figure and complete list can be verified at the US Bureau of Economic Analysis.

Oil and Gas; Petroleum Refining
Amoco Corp British Petroleum Co PLC United Kingdom $48.174 Billion
ARCO BP Amoco PLC United Kingdom $27.224 Billion
Texaco-US Refining & Marketing Shell Oil-Western US Business Netherlands $3.964 Billion
Pennzoil-Quaker State Co Shell Oil Co Netherlands $2.909 Billion
Texaco Inc-Refining Operations Saudi Refining Inc Saudi Arabia $1.280 Billion
Amerada Hess-St Croix Refinery PDVSA Venezuela $0.932 Billion
Chevron Corp-Port Arthur,TX Clark Refining & Marketing Inc Canada $0.825 Billion
Monsanto Oil Co(Monsanto Co) BHP Petroleum(Americas)Inc Australia $0.745 Billion
CITGO Petroleum Corp Propernyn BV Netherlands $0.662 Billion
Other $29.603 Billion
Total $116.317 Billion


Telecommunications
AirTouch Communications Inc Vodafone Group PLC United Kingdom $60.287 Billion
VoiceStream Wireless Corp Deutsche Telekom AG Germany $29.404 Billion
AT&T-Worldwide Assets,Ops British Telecomm-Worldwide United Kingdom $5.038 Billion
GE Americom Communications SES Global SA Luxembourg $4.326 Billion
Cellular Communications Intl Kensington Acquisition Sub Inc Italy $1.688 Billion
Loral Space-Satellites(6) Intelsat Ltd Bermuda $1.100 Billion
QUALCOMM-Land-Based Wireless Kyocera Corp Japan $1.000 Billion
GE Capital Spacenet Services Gilat Satellite Networks Ltd Israel $0.228 Billion
Lockheed Martin Corp-World Intelsat Ltd Bermuda $0.120 Billion
Other $43.239 Billion
Total $146.429 Billion




Transportation Equipment
Chrysler Corp Daimler-Benz AG Germany $40.466 Billion
ITT Inds-Automotive Electrical Valeo SA France $1.700 Billion
AlliedSignal Auto-Braking Busn Robert Bosch GmbH Germany $1.500 Billion
Blue Bird Corp Henlys Group PLC United Kingdom $0.665 Billion
Motor Coach Industries Intl Consorcio G Grupo Dina'l'ads Mexico $0.335 Billion
Dana Corp-Driveline Business GKN PLC-Driveline Assembly United Kingdom $0.108 Billion
Mack Trucks Inc Renault Vehicules Industriels France $0.104 Billion
Delphi Automotive Sys-Magnaque San Huan Group Inc China $0.070 Billion
General Motors-Assembly Line China-General Engine Factory China $0.017 Billion
Dana Corp-Kirkstall Forging Bharat Forge Ltd India $0.006 Billion
Other $9.247 Billion
Total $54.217 Billion


Printing, Publishing, and Allied Services
Harcourt General Inc Reed Elsevier Group PLC United Kingdom $5.603 Billion
Simon & Schuster-Educ,Prof Pearson PLC United Kingdom $4.600 Billion
West Publishing Co Thomson Corp Canada $3.425 Billion
Macmillan Inc Maxwell Communication Corp United Kingdom $2.522 Billion
Houghton Mifflin Co Vivendi Universal SA France $2.272 Billion
Ziff Davis Media Inc Softbank Corp Japan $2.100 Billion
CBS Records Group(CBS Inc) Sony Corp Japan $2.000 Billion
Random House Inc Bertelsmann AG Germany $1.300 Billion
Doubleday-Publishing&Printing Bertelsmann AG Germany $0.500 Billion
Harper & Row Publishers Inc News America Holdings Inc Australia $0.293 Billion
Addison-Wesley Publishing Co Pearson Inc(Pearson PLC) United Kingdom $0.273 Billion
Other $31.483 Billion
Total $56.371 Billion


Mining
Magma Copper Co BHP Australia $2.432 Billion
NERCO Inc Kennecott Corp(RTZ Corp PLC) United Kingdom $1.162 Billion
Cyprus Amax-US Coal Mining Ops RAG International Mining Gmbh Germany $1.100 Billion
Getchell Gold Corp Placer Dome Inc Canada $1.079 Billion
ASARCO Inc Nueva Grupo Mexico SA de CV Mexico $1.073 Billion
Other $12.281 Billion
Total $19.126 Billion


Insurance
John Hancock Finl Svcs Inc Manulife Financial Corp Canada $11.063 Billion
TransAmerica Corp Aegon NV Netherlands $9.691 Billion
Farmers Group Inc BATUS Inc(BAT Industries PLC) United Kingdom $5.200 Billion
CIGNA Corp-US & International ACE Ltd Bermuda $3.450 Billion
American Bankers Ins Group Inc Fortis AG Belgium $2.630 Billion
Providian Corp-Insurance Aegon NV Netherlands $2.624 Billion
Other $51.261 Billion
Total $85.917 Billion






Electronic and Electrical Equipment
AMP Inc Tyco International Ltd Bermuda $10.736 Billion
DII Group Flextronics International Ltd Singapore $2.591 Billion
Silicon Valley Group Inc ASM Lithography Holding NV Netherlands $1.561 Billion
ChipPAC Inc ST Assembly Test Services Ltd Singapore $1.459 Billion
VLSI Technology Inc Koninklijke Philips Electronic Netherlands $1.163 Billion
GTE Electrical Prods-Sylvania Osram GmbH Germany $1.000 Billion
Artisan Components Inc ARM Holdings PLC United Kingdom $0.933 Billion
Exide Electronics Group Inc BTR PLC United Kingdom $0.583 Billion
Westinghouse Elec-Power Equip Asea Brown Boveri(ABillion Asea) Sweden $0.370 Billion
Zenith Electronics Corp LG Electronics Inc South Korea $0.186 Billion
Natl Semiconductor Corp-Bus VIA Technologies Inc Taiwan $0.167 Billion
Natl Semiconductor-Chip Plant Matsushita Electric Industrial Japan $0.100 Billion
Other $40.773 Billion
Total $61.622 Billion


Drugs
SmithKline Beckman Corp Beecham Group PLC United Kingdom $7.922 Billion
Marion Merrell Dow Inc Hoechst AG Germany $7.265 Billion
Syntex Corp Roche Holding AG Switzerland $5.307 Billion
Rorer Group Inc Rhone-Poulenc SA France $3.476 Billion
SICOR Inc Teva Pharma Inds Ltd Israel $3.401 Billion
Genentech Inc Roche Holding AG Switzerland $1.530 Billion
Chiron Diagnostics Corp Bayer AG Germany $1.100 Billion
Other $30.301 Billion
Total $60.302 Billion


Computer and Office Equipment
IBM Corp-Hard Disk Drive Hitachi Ltd Japan $2.050 Billion
Kingston Technology Corp Softbank Corp Japan $1.071 Billion
Amdahl Corp Fujitsu Ltd Japan $0.925 Billion
Maxtor Corp Hyundai Electn Industries Co South Korea $0.228 Billion
Quantum-Recording-Head Bus Matsushita Kotobuki Electn Ind Japan $0.200 Billion
Proxima Corp ASK AS Norway $0.083 Billion
Other $28.337 Billion
Total $32.894 Billion


Machinery
United States Filter Corp Vivendi SA France $6.318 Billion
Westinghouse-Conven Power Gen Siemens AG Germany $1.525 Billion
Rexnord Corp BTR Dunlop Holdings(BTR PLC) United Kingdom $0.815 Billion
Progressive Tool & Industry Co Fiat SpA Italy $0.630 Billion
Detroit Diesel DaimlerChrysler AG Germany $0.581 Billion
Pinnacle Automation Inc FKI PLC United Kingdom $0.425 Billion
Ingersoll-Rand-Drilling Bus Atlas Copco AB Sweden $0.225 Billion
Other $13.588 Billion
Total $24.106 Billion


Metal and Metal Products
Triangle Industries Inc Pechiney SA France $3.658 Billion
Lucent Tech-Optical Fibre Unit Furukawa Electric Co Ltd Japan $2.127 Billion
Inland Steel Co Ispat International NV Netherlands $1.427 Billion
AlliedSignal Laminate Systems Rutgers AG Germany $0.815 Billion
Cargill Inc-Cert Steel Asts Gerdau Ameristeel US Inc Canada $0.266 Billion
Other $14.722 Billion
Total $23.015 Billion






Investment & Commodity Firms,Dealers,Exchanges
PaineWebber Group Inc UBS AG Switzerland $12.243 Billion
Aetna-Fin'l Svcs & Int'l Bus ING Groep NV Netherlands $4.933 Billion
PIMCO Advisors Holdings LP Allianz AG Germany $1.930 Billion
Scudder Stevens & Clark Inc Zurich Versicherungs GmbH Switzerland $1.667 Billion
AIM Management Group Inc Invesco PLC United Kingdom $1.599 Billion
Dain Rauscher Corp Royal Bank of Canada Canada $1.354 Billion
First Boston Inc Credit Suisse First Boston Switzerland $1.100 Billion
Brinson Partners Inc Schweizerischer Bankverein Switzerland $0.750 Billion
Warburg Pincus Asset Mgmt Credit Suisse Asset Management Switzerland $0.650 Billion
Dillon Read & Co(UBS AG) SBC Warburg(Swiss Bank Corp) Switzerland $0.600 Billion
Other $39.379 Billion
Total $66.205 Billion


Commercial Banks, Bank Holding Companies
Bankers Trust New York Corp Deutsche Bank AG Germany $9.082 Billion
Republic New York Corp,NY,NY HSBC Holdings PLC{HSBC} United Kingdom $7.703 Billion
Banknorth Group Inc,ME Toronto-Dominion Bank Canada $3.813 Billion
Centura Bank Inc,NC Royal Bank of Canada Canada $2.320 Billion
Mellon Fin-Retail Banking Bus Citizens Financial Group,RI United Kingdom $2.100 Billion
Other $18.572 Billion
Total $43.590 Billion


Motion Picture Production and Distribution
MCA Inc Matsushita Electric Industrial Japan $7.406 Billion
Columbia Pictures Entmnt Sony USA Inc(Sony Corp) Japan $4.792 Billion
MGM/UA Communications Co Pathe Communications Corp Luxembourg $1.709 Billion
All American Communications Pearson PLC United Kingdom $0.500 Billion
RCA Columbia Home Video Columbia Pictures Entmnt Japan $0.350 Billion
Other $3.546 Billion
Total $18.303 Billion


Chemicals and Allied Products
Nalco Chemical Co Suez Lyonnaise des Eaux SA France $4.063 Billion
American Cyanamid Agri Product BASF AG Germany $3.900 Billion
Quantum Chemical Corp Hanson PLC United Kingdom $3.220 Billion
Loctite Corp Henkel KGaA Germany $1.289 Billion
Merck-Crop Protection Business Novartis AG Switzerland $0.910 Billion
Other $37.249 Bil.
Total $50.630 Billion


Rubber and Miscellaneous Plastic Products
Firestone Tire & Rubber Co Bridgestone Corp Japan $2.533 Billion
Uniroyal Goodrich Tire Co Michelin SA France $1.500 Billion
Gates Corp Tomkins PLC United Kingdom $1.400 Billion
Johnson Controls-Plastic Div Schmalbach-Lubeca AG(Viag AG) Germany $0.650 Billion
General Tire Inc(GenCorp) Continental AG Germany $0.625 Billion
Other $9.716 Billion
Total $16.424 Billion






Food and Kindred Products
Bestfoods Unilever PLC United Kingdom $25.065 Bil.
Ralston Purina Co Nestle SA Switzerland $10.479 Bil.
Miller Brewing(Philip Morris) South African Breweries PLC United Kingdom $5.574 Billion
Pfizer Inc-Adams Cadbury Schweppes PLC United Kingdom $4.200 Billion
Gerber Products Co Sandoz AG Switzerland $3.686 Billion
Dr Pepper/Seven-Up Cos Inc Cadbury Schweppes PLC United Kingdom $2.367 Billion
Slim-Fast Foods Co Unilever NV Netherlands $2.300 Billion
Snapple Beverage Group Inc Cadbury Schweppes PLC United Kingdom $1.450 Billion
Beringer Wine Estates Holdings Fosters Brewing Group Ltd Australia $1.447 Billion
Tropicana Products Inc Joseph E Seagram & Sons Inc Canada $1.200 Billion
Other $26.150 Billion
Total $83.917 Billion


Credit Institutions
Household International Inc HSBC Holdings PLC{HSBC} United Kingdom $15.294 Billion
CIT Group Inc Tyco International Ltd Bermuda $9.341 Billion
AT&T Capital Corp(AT&T Corp) Investor Group United Kingdom $2.129 Billion
Genstar Corp Imasco Enterprises(Imasco) Canada $1.842 Billion
Peoples Bank-Credit Card Bus Royal Bank of Scotland Group United Kingdom $0.518 Billion
HealthCare Financial Partners Heller Financial Inc Japan $0.485 Billion
Other $2.584 Billion
Total $32.193 Billion


Electric, Gas, and Water Distribution
PacifiCorp Scottish Power PLC United Kingdom $12.600 Billion
Niagara Mohawk Holdings Inc National Grid Group PLC United Kingdom $8.048 Billion
American Water Works Co Inc RWE AG Germany $7.726 Billion
LG&E Energy Corp PowerGen PLC United Kingdom $5.426 Billion
New England Electric System National Grid Group PLC United Kingdom $4.217 Billion
Tejas Gas Corp Shell Oil Co Netherlands $2.166 Billion
United Water Resources Inc Suez Lyonnaise des Eaux SA France $1.845 Billion
Gas Transmission NW Corp TransCanada Corp Canada $1.703 Billion
Other $11.892 Billion
Total $55.622 Billion


Business Services
Ernst & Young-Consulting Bus Cap Gemini SA France $11.774 Billion
LHS Group Inc Sema Group PLC United Kingdom $4.338 Billion
Nielsen Media Research Inc VNU NV Netherlands $2.788 Billion
ACNielsen Corp VNU NV Netherlands $2.341 Billion
Sensormatic Electronics Corp Tyco International Ltd Bermuda $2.203 Billion
Shared Medical Systems Corp Siemens Corp Germany $2.058 Billion
Safety-Kleen Corp Laidlaw Environmental Services Canada $1.804 Billion
Combustion Engineering Inc Asea Brown Boveri(ABillion Asea) Sweden $1.795 Billion
MCI Communications Corp-Whl Cable & Wireless PLC United Kingdom $1.750 Billion
Experian Corp Great Universal Stores PLC United Kingdom $1.700 Billion
Manpower Inc Blue Arrow PLC United Kingdom $1.328 Billion
Primark Corp Thomson Corp Canada $1.081 Billion
Island ECN Inc Instinet Corp(Reuters Group) United Kingdom $0.543 Billion
Zenith Computer Group(Zenith) Cie des Machines Bull France $0.496 Billion
Knight-Ridder Information Inc MAID PLC United Kingdom $0.420 Billion
Pinkerton's Inc Securitas AB Sweden $0.383 Billion
Other $72.510 Billion
Total $109.312 Billion


Please Pass It On To A Friend, Ask Them To Pass It On To A Friend, And Also Send It To Your Congressperson, Or As A Letter To The Editor

Print This Page | Email This Article | Send Comments to the Editor

[Advisor]

It's the global economy, baby. Just another excuse for fat cats to get rich at the expense of not only the little guy, but also the country that has given them the opportunity to get rich. When I hear these guys prattle on about patriot this and patriot that, I want to puke. Their country is money..they have no other loyalty.
One of these days the US will become a consumer nation & be at the mercy of the producing nations (turnabout is a bitch). Wonder what we'll do about spreading 'democracy' and 'capitalism' then???

[SuperScout]

Just a thought for "The Sky is Falling" crowd: how many "foreign" companies were purchased by US companies? How many new US companies were formed either from an original idea, or were created as a result of the former company being sold? What was the disposition of all the capital infusion into our economy? Do you think it just sat around in fat-cats' money-market accounts? Looking at the world through a stove-pipe will certainly produce a narrow field of vision.

[MORTARDUDE]

hmmm... narrow field of vision...when your employer is 3,000 miles away and could give a rat's ass about you or your family's welfare, much less your country's....................

Advisor : Right on the er....money.

Larry

[SuperScout]

Is it axiomatic that if one's employer is 3,000 miles away, there is an absence of concern about one or ones family's welfare? When did ones family's welfare become a corporate responsibility? Why is the corporation in business, to make a profit for its shareholders, or to be concerned about their employees' family's welfare?

Invalid assumptions can lead to invalid conclusions.

[MORTARDUDE]

ok u win. case closed. lol

larry

[Gimpy]

Originally posted by SuperScout Is it axiomatic that if one's employer is 3,000 miles away, there is an absence of concern about one or ones family's welfare? When did ones family's welfare become a corporate responsibility? Why is the corporation in business, to make a profit for its shareholders, or to be concerned about their employees' family's welfare?

Invalid assumptions can lead to invalid conclusions.

Mah Deah Super Management Consultant............

How quaint and totally out of touch you seem to be with the 'real world' aspects of mangement and employee relationships.

Your outdated and disassociated from reality comments about 'profits for shareholders' being the sole and 'bottom line' reasoning for this 'new breed' of capitalist scumbags that portray themselves as this countrys 'ruling elite' is so far from the truth it's actually nothing more than continued propaganda from those that would continue to reduce this nations working middle-class to a never ending cycle of reductions in life style and systematic poverty inducing pay scale degradations for years to come.

As one with many, many years of experience in management of hundreds of 'employees' and with the responsibility and control of millions of dollars of production & delivery equipment and capital outlays I can say with certainty that you are so far off base you're not even on the playing field!

Employer and employee relationships have been constantly changing since the late 1890's, starting with the work of early Industrial Engineers. Most of these 'changes' have been equally beneficial to employer and employee, until recently that is.

Frederick W. Taylor began to look at individual workers and work methods. The result was Time Study and standardized work. Taylor was a controversial figure. He called his ideas Scientific Management. The concept of applying science to management was sound but Taylor simply ignored the behavioral sciences. In addition, he had a peculiar attitude towards factory workers. Thought most were lazy and irresponsible.

Frank Gilbreth (Cheaper By The Dozen) added Motion Study and invented Process Charting. Process charts focused attention on all work elements including those non-value added elements which normally occur between the "official" elements.

Lillian Gilbreth brought psychology into the mix by studying the motivations of workers and how attitudes affected the outcome of a processand/or services rendered. There were, of course, many other contributors. These were the people who originated the idea of "eliminating waste"and improving employee attitudes and output, of which key tenets of JIT (Just In Time) espoused by Edward Demming, and Lean Manufacturing and delivery of goods and services were incorporated.

The Japanese hired Demming, and studied American production methods with particular attention to Ford practices and the Statistical Quality Control practices of Ishikawa, Edward Demming, and Joseph Juran. With great success I might add.

At Toyota Motor Company, CEO Taichii Ohno and Production Chief Shigeo Shingo, began to incorporate Ford production and other techniques into an approach called Toyota Production System or Just In Time . They recognized the central role of the employee to their overall success

The Toyota people also recognized that the Ford system had contradictions and shortcomings, particularly with respect to employees. They found that the overall success of the company was DIRECTLY RELATED to the WELL BEING and FEELING OF BELONGING and CONTRIBUTION of each and every employee AND their families support and involvement with their job!

Hundreds of studies and mountains of corporate research since then CONFIRM that when an organization promotes overall employee participation AND well being in ALL aspects of it's goals, production & delivery of goods and services, they WILL be successful and that 'bottom line' that you refer to WILL improve!

Have a nice, PRODUCTIVE day!......................

[SuperScout]

So what does the Demming methodology, or any of the other stuff you posted, have to do with my premise that the major raison d'ete for any corporation is to make money? I did not say that is was the ONLY reason, but it is a major factor for their very existence.

And those "capitalist scumbags" you vilify: without them, there would be no profits on goods and services or wages, without profits on goods and servcies and wages, there would be no taxes, and without taxes, your monthly entitlement checks would not be possible. Be careful of biting the hand that feeds you.

[Gimpy]

Originally posted by SuperScout Is it axiomatic that if one's employer is 3,000 miles away, there is an absence of concern about one or ones family's welfare? When did ones family's welfare become a corporate responsibility? Why is the corporation in business, to make a profit for its shareholders,[ COLOR=red] or to be concerned about their employees' family's welfare?[/color]

Invalid assumptions can lead to invalid conclusions.

WHOOPS!...............How siily of me?


You're absolutely right! Well, almost anyway...........

I ONLY meant those 'capitalist SCUMBAGS" who feel that it's NOT their responsiblity "to be concerned about their employees' family's welfare" ............. .....Thanks for clearing that up for everyone!................ :re:

PS-----------All your 'jukin' & 'jivin' about not meaning that 'making a profit' is not the ONLY reason a company is in business is just so much hot air!..........You said it!.........You just won't admit it....................All the evidence I posted regarding an organizations 'committment' to it's employees 'welfare' and 'well being' can not be simply snuffed away with your ongoing denial of your previous comments. Nice try...............but that won't fly!

[exlrrp]

I agree with certain elements of the "Head-in-the Sand--Everythings-just-Ducky" crowd as represented here: Foreign ownership of American corporations is not necesarily a bad thing.
Foreign investment is, in most cases, a good thing and if they invest money here, the chances are they're going to take care of that investment.
Forget the notion that just because a corporation is "American" the owners will look out for the American workers. Ahahahaha Part of that big sucking sound youve heard over the last several years is American corporatiions shipping American jobs overseas.
But the Head-In-The-Sand crowd should be aware of some time bombs lurking in the background.
America has been turned into the largest debtor nation in the world in the last 5 years, starting from a $127Billion surplus. This administration has run this country farther into debt THAN ALL THE PREVIOUS ADMINISTRATIONS IN HISTORY COMBINED!!!
And the debt just keeps on piling up. There's no budgetary restraint at all, the President has signed EVERY ONE of these bloated federal budggets without demurring--even though he has the line item veto so necessary to balance the budget, acccording to Ronald Reagan. This is what creates $250million Republican bridges to nowhere.
its a shame the conservatives moved so far off of their balancing the budget stand of the 90s--it was one of the few things I agreed with them on (another one: the death penalty)
They had to run up the deficit to pay for their tax cuts that were supposed to be so good for business. But even with their taxcuts the Dow--leading indiicator of the economy and capital investment--stayed absolutely flat this year, no gain at all, and still well below the 11000+ of the Clinton Times--this is FIVE YEARS later!!
With the huge deficits comes huge foreign debt. The Bush Adminstratrion finances its huge budgetary deficits with foreign investment and mostly from the Chinese--who are emerging as our greatest competeitor. Republicans think its great to be seriously in debt to your competeitor (who's been your mortal enemy lo these many decades) but rational people don't. the Chinese are a greater threat to tthe US than ever in our history--if they dump their bonds at a low level pricem which they can do when theyre strong enough, it will tank our economy.
Thanks the Republicans for putting us in this position, its been all their show the last 5 years.

Record low unemployment rate Clinton Era: 4.1%
Record low unemployment rate Bush Era: 5.0%
22 million jobs created in the Clinton Era
5 million jobs created in the Bush Era (worst record of any president!)
Republicans call this a recovery.

The conservatives have completely abandoned their smaller-is-better stance about the government--the federal government has grown 37% since Bush took office, measured in dollars of government spending.
Lets add this up: Increased growth of government spending plus negative growth of government revenues plus complete abdication of budgetary restraint equals huge budgetary deficits to pass on to future generations. This is financial irresposibilty of epic proportions
This is comparable to quitting your job and living on your Visa card in hopes of winning the lottery. You may get some nice shiny objects up front but that debt will haunt you all your life and hamper your future options. I guess thats all part of the Republican plan to make things nbetter.
America has more to worry about than who's buying the corporations, we're lucky they think America is still worth investing in. The types that love to lead with their heads in the sand (or in the bubble) think its all good.
Stay on these isssues, Larry
Stay good
james