It is rather frustrating that Anheuser-Busch was purchased, actually > taken over, by InBev. What’s more frustrating is that St. Louis public opinion seems to equate the purchase with the brewery’s demise, according to various Post-Dispatch articles and interviews. Where was the outcry when Macy’s purchased May Company and laid off hundreds of employees or when Daimler bought Chrysler? Where were the petitions when TWA purchased Ozark, Wachovia purchased A. G. Edwards, Boeing took over McDonnell Douglas (of course McDonnell had already taken over Douglas)? The man on the street didn’t seem to care when the Pulitzer family sold the Post-Dispatch - or maybe he just didn’t feel affected. And where were the hourly news flashes when Ralston was sold or when Burroughs took over Sperry, laying off thousands and turning two 5 billion dollar companies into one 7 billion dollar company? Ironically, when A-B bought breweries and moved production, no one seemed to complain, and I don’t recall a single presidential candidate commenting on any of these.

Maybe the lesson to be learned is that corporate takeovers are made  possible by the politicians who represent the corporations instead of the people who elected them - people who just might work for other targets of corporate takeover.

Tim Klos

St. Louis