Damn, there's that Israel connection again.Foreign Owners: First Your Bullets, Now Your Beer!
First, let's start with your beer. Maybe you've heard that a European corporation (Belgian to be specific) has offered to buy out the owners of Budweiser. If you haven't heard, here's a few links:
Market cheers InBev's $46 bln Anheuser-Busch bid MarketWatch
Americans rally round Anheuser-Busch after takeover bid AFP
InBev set to raise offer for Anhauser-Busch TimesOnLine(UK)
InBev, the Belgian maker of Stella Artois and Beck's beers, is expected to raise its offer for Anheuser-Busch to as much as $50 billion (£25.6 billion) in an attempt to persuade the American brewer's board to recommend a deal.Do you ever wonder how such deals get done? Super-smart Wall-Street types? Maybe. but it helps if you're already holding most of the high cards. The article even names Warren Buffett, who's simply another agent that makes up the Top 10 Major Holders of Anheuser-Busch. You have to understand that this has been planned for a long time, with those participating quietly buying up Anheuser's shares. As of March 31, 2008, the most recent data I have access to, you can see the current status here of the Major Holders.Analysts believe that the Budweiser brewer will reject the opening gambit of $65 a share but will be forced by institutional shareholders, including Warren Buffett, to start talks if the bid is raised closer to $70.
As noted, the Top Ten Major Holders, which make up 1% of institutional holders, already control over 31% of Anheuser-Busch. If we had the time to check out the other 856 institutional holders, we could readily prove through their inter-connections that these 1%'ers control much more than that. But that would prove nothing. The point is that every time you buy a Bud, or even a Corona, these major holders get a large share of the profit, most of which leaves your neighborhood and soon to leave your country.
So what does that have to do with bullets? Same deal. America's major ammunition manufacturer is the Lake City Arsenal in Independence, Missouri. It was started by Remington with Dupont's help. Then Dupont slowly acquired all of Remington's shares, later passing control over to Olin Corporation, which in turn passed on control over to Alliant Technology (ATK), who controls it now. Unfortunately, Lake City couldn't make enough ammunition, according to this article:
FORT BELVOIR, Va. The U.S. military's only plant making small-arms ammunition is running at near capacity, 4 million rounds a day, and the United States still is forced to look overseas and to the recreational industry for ammunition for troops in Afghanistan and Iraq and those training to deploy there soon.However, you might want to take a look at this article, which makes me wonder how all these bullets are being used.
. . .
The sole plant making small-arms ammunition, the Lake City Army Ammunition Plant in Independence, Mo., is running three eight-hour shifts a day, six days a week. The plant provides 5.56 mm rifle, 7.62 mm and .50 caliber machine gun as well as 9 mm pistol cartridges for all branches of the military.
. . .
Because of the increased demand for ammunition since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and America's wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, Kern said the Army in late December let two supplemental contracts to Olin Winchester of East Alton, Ill., (Olin Corp is based in Clayton, Missouri) and Israeli Military Industries for each to produce 70 million rifle rounds per month starting in June.US forces have fired so many bullets in Iraq and Afghanistan - an estimated 250,000 for every insurgent killed - that American ammunition-makers cannot keep up with demand. As a result the US is having to import supplies from Israel.
. . .
The Pentagon reportedly bought 313 million rounds of 5.56mm, 7.62mm and 50-calibre ammunition last year and paid $10m (about £5.5m) more than it would have cost for it to produce the ammunition at its own facilities.
Anyway, taking a look at the Top 10 Major Holders of Alliant TechSystem, you'll see that it's simply a corporate plantation, as no insiders have enough shares to even register 1%. That means management are only plantation managers, simply answering to the TOP 10 Major Holders controlling over 71% of its shares.
Wow! No wonder this so-called War on Terror is NOT going to end anytime soon.
The financial predators just can't take enough to be satisfied.
Just like a black hole in space.
You already pay them for your bullets, and now you might just have to pay them for your beer, too.
Unfortunately: Sometimes The Dragon Wins
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