| What do the following have in common: | | | | interested than ever in investing in America. But |
| Budweiser Beer; CITGO gasoline; Good Humor, | | | | the reality of increasing foreign ownership in the |
| Ben and Jerry's, and Breyer's ice creams; French's | | | | U.S. suggests that we need to re-look at the |
| mustard; Frigidaire refrigerators; Adidas and | | | | relationship between our government and |
| Reebok shoes; New York's Plaza Hotel and | | | | increasingly powerful multinational corporations. |
| Chrysler Building; Caribou Coffee and Church's | | | | When the Supreme Court ruled in 1886 in Santa |
| Chicken; Trader Joe's; 7-Eleven; Holiday Inn; Dial | | | | Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad, a case |
| Soap; T-Mobile; Firestone tires; the Sunglass Hut; | | | | dealing with taxation of railroad properties by the |
| the Indiana Toll Road - part of the interstate | | | | State of California, the court set the precedent |
| Route 80; and Toll House Cookies? The answer is | | | | that corporations are entitled to the same |
| that each of these seemingly American brands | | | | protection as individuals under the Fourteenth |
| and assets is actually owned and controlled by a | | | | Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. In its ruling |
| foreign corporation. The selling off of the United | | | | earlier this year striking down federal election law, |
| States of America has been going on for some | | | | the court further expanded its 1886 ruling by |
| time, and foreign owned corporations now control | | | | extending First Amendment rights to corporations |
| 50% or more of many important US industries: | | | | and unions, including multinational corporations |
| * Sound recording industries - 97% | | | | controlled by non-US citizens and foreign |
| * Commodity contracts dealing and brokerage - | | | | governments. |
| 79% | | | | Most Americans seem not to realize that their |
| * Motion picture and sound recording industries - | | | | rights as Americans are being increasingly ceded |
| 75% | | | | to multinational corporations. The oil industry, the |
| * Metal ore mining - 65% | | | | health insurance and pharmaceutical industries, the |
| * Motion picture and video industries - 64% | | | | food industry, the banking and financial industries - |
| * Wineries and distilleries - 64% | | | | all of these are largely beyond the control of the |
| * Database, directory, and other publishers - 63% | | | | any government entity. Despite the harm they |
| * Book publishers - 63% | | | | cause. The federal court ruling in the case of the |
| * Cement, concrete, lime, and gypsum production | | | | Obama Administration's deep water off-shore |
| - 62% | | | | drilling moratorium is but the latest evidence of |
| * Engine, turbine and power transmission | | | | the increasing reach of corporations. The Interior |
| equipment - 57% | | | | Department moratorium applied to only 33 deep |
| * Rubber - 53% | | | | water well projects and there are more than |
| * Nonmetallic mineral product manufacturing - | | | | 3500 wells currently in production in the Gulf of |
| 53% | | | | Mexico. Even in the event of catastrophic damage |
| * Plastics and rubber products manufacturing - | | | | to the health, property, and livelihoods of many |
| 52% | | | | thousands who live and work in the Gulf, |
| * Plastics - 51% | | | | corporate power rules. |
| * Other insurance related activities - 51% | | | | Isn't it time we took a new look at corporations |
| * Boiler, tank, and shipping containers - 50% | | | | having the same rights as individuals? With their |
| And as borrowing by Americans continues - by | | | | tremendous resource advantage, corporations not |
| individuals, businesses, and governments - and as | | | | only have the same rights but it can be argued |
| trade deficits continue unabated, our country is | | | | they have far greater rights. We are no longer |
| literally being sold out from under us. The good | | | | talking entrepreneurial capitalism, we are talking |
| news is that the world seems to be more | | | | international capitalism. They are not the same. |