To: Misha <mgs23@pacbell.net>
From: Hugh Lovel <uai@alltel.net>
Subject: Re: Fwd: [corp-focus] One Big Company
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Great Stuff, Misha!
Some folks don't get satire, but there are those of us who know what it is
like to have a tongue in our cheeks.
The "one big company" kind of thing has everything to do with
sustainability, not only in farming, but in every aspect of the economy.
Farming, however, is the chief source of raw materials in our economy and
as such is key to the whole business pyramid. Put the squeeze on farmers
and keep them in hock up to their cowlicks and you keep virtually everyone
in the economy borrowing money and scraping to get by.
Actually there are a lot more tie-ins with a thing like mergers between
Cargill and Continental and our banks and banking system than most folks
have any idea of. Take for instance our big Cargill soybean processing
plant in Gainesville, Georgia. This is the centerpiece of all manner of
animal feed enterprises and Gainesville is the center of the Georgia
chicken industry. Every business from selling soybean oil in tank car lots
to packagers to rendering chicken carcasses for fast food chains ALL bank
their proceeds in Gainesville. It would be interesting to trace down the
ownership and control of stock for the First National Bank of Gainesville.
From a friend in the mortgage brokering industry I learned that by far the
bulk of mortgage money lent out in the State of Georgia comes from this one
bank, and it is all based on the Cargill operation. If Cargill keeps
farmers' profits from growing soybeans low enough this creates a much
better demand for loans, which, let's face it, is what Cargill needs to
have happen with their bank deposits. The plethora of different
corporations involved in the various aspects of soybean processing in
Gainesville gives the appearance of enormous diversity in terms of control
of businesses. But I can hardly believe it is really so. If you could track
back the ownership of all the various stocks through all the many layers of
intermediaries, what would you find?
I would submit that Cargill is not the friend of sustainable agriculture.
Au contraire! What amazes me is there is barely any public awareness of
what really goes on in this world.
Best wishes,
Hugh Lovel
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