From “Cornered,The New Monopoly Capitalilsm…” by Barry Lynn:
“First consider Exxon Mobil. Or, more specifically, consider a 2007 article in Business Week that detailed how that company was ‘pumping cash, not oil.’ With gasoline prices at record highs, the article state, the oil titan ‘out to be driling like mad and refining more of that black gold, right?’ Yet it wasn’t. ‘As it turns out, the world’s largest oil producer thinks it is smarter to use more of its resources to buy back stock. The indirect result: increased pain at the pump for consumers.’
“The article made it clear that this was not a new problem. On the contrary it traced this lack of interest in exploration and drilling to President Clilnton’s approval of Exxon’s massive merger with Mobil in 1999l It was at that point that the company ceased to devote resources to expanding its overall reserve holdings.”
Later Lynn explains “When companies like GM began to spin off certain production activities in the 1980s, a key goal was to weaken unions and drive down wages. Although the managers often said that such changes were necessary to compete with Japanes manufacturers, in actuality mch of the cash that was saved went stsraight to the financiers.”
We do not need to look further than Lancaster to note how over the past few decades, world wide mergers and acquitions have reduced the number of major companies headquartered here, with profound consequences since there are few counterveiling forces to hold the survivors in check.
The Watchdog does not necessarily agree with all of Lynn’s interpretation of history, but his reporting on the changes over the past decades and their consequences are in the most part undisputable. Lynn may have written the most important book of the decade.
