Another stab in the pants to the American male. Budweiser beer is not quite all-american as it’s been. The brewer of Budweiser, Anhauser-Busch, accepted a $49.9 billion bid from InBev, a Belgian company.
Kinda outsourcing the brewski management, eh?
InBev is reportedly very tough when it comes to cutting costs, so look out American workers.
“Anheuser controls nearly half the U.S. market with brands like Budweiser, Bud Light and Michelob. InBev, which was formed by the 2004 merger of Belgium's Interbrew with Brazil's AmBev, has strong positions in Western Europe and Latin America and is growing in Eastern Europe and Asia.
Together, they will easily pass SAB Miller to become the world's largest brewer by volume, as well as sales. Their combined revenues for 2007 come to $36.4 billion: Anheuser controls nearly half the U.S. market with brands like Budweiser, Bud Light and Michelob. InBev, which was formed by the 2004 merger of Belgium's Interbrew with Brazil's AmBev, has strong positions in Western Europe and Latin America and is growing in Eastern Europe and Asia.
Together, they will easily pass SAB Miller to become the world's largest brewer by volume, as well as sales. Their combined revenues for 2007 come to $36.4 billion.”
In one fell swoop over 50% of the American beer market becomes a foreign asset. Earlier this week it was the Chrysler building.
It’s hard to imagine something like Bud Beer being a non-American product. It’s almost up there with Mom and apple pie. Makes you think they might be next.
Naomi Klein talks about disaster capitalism at work. We’re seeing it here in the USA. Start an insane war, destroy the economy by failing to deal with mortally devastating addiction to oil, let finance institutions run wild, without applying regulations and you have a recipe for takeovers of industry after industry.
Blame the Bush administration for starting the war, for appointing cronies who look the other way at deals and regulation violations. But also blame the Democrats in congress for failing to take on Bush and for taking lobbyist money that has persuaded them to let to many deals pass and to pass legislation good for corporations and bad the USA.
