McCaskill to InBev: Have a Bud, but not the Brewery
Be sure to check out this story at the mother ship about U.S. Sen Claire McCaskill’s meeting today with InBev chief Carlos Brito.
The piece, by PD Washington scribe Deirdre Shesgreen, includes this great nugget:
“I was very upfront,” McCaskill said of her discussion with Brito. After offering him a Budweiser and sipping one herself, she told him she would “do everything I could to stop this sale from going through … It’s a bad idea. I don’t want you to buy it. The people of Missouri don’t want you to buy it.”
Speaking to reporters after, McCaskill blasted the proposal as a “premium profit for hedge fund investors” and said A-B is a strong company that has provided thousands of good middle class American jobs.
“We do not have a ‘For Sale’ sign on our front lawn in America,” she said.
Bud in the refrigerator — who knew Capitol Hill was such a festive place to work?
We don’t have a ‘For Sale’ sign on America’s front lawn? What does she think Capitalism is?
I am saddened by the prospect of AB’s purchase, but what justification do we have for preventing it?
Long term, one has to worry about the future viability of St Louis as a location for AB’s continuing operations. If !nBev wins the brewery, it will see a very hostile, if not toxic, business environment here. Politicians of both parties are falling over themselves to see who can be most hostile to the buyers. And the Post-Dispatch, which outsiders could reasonably perceive to be the voice of the community? When the story first broke, the big black-letter headline of the Post’s top of front page story called !nBev a “bully.” (The current online version now substitutes the word “behemoth,” but the print copy is still out there.)
Owners of AB shares can refuse to sell their shares, and that would be a locally patriotic thing to do. But high-visibility hatred of the conquerors risks much greater losses down the road.
Let’s be Blunt, the Bond between shareholders and directors requires optimizing returns. McCaskill is obviously clueless like many others in a city & state that prefers cheap talk over progress.
To further the Bluntness:
Regular reader know that I do not like McCaskill. Not even a little. But today she did the right thing. Good for you Claire!
Not that it will do any good mind you…
AB, especially here in St. Louis is gone… history.
Hey Claire, does AB only employ the “middle class?” Is that what we are expected to shoot for, the middle?
Why in samhill couldn’t she have just said, “AB is a strong company that has provided thousands of good American jobs?” Looney broad.
lunatic
McCaskill is trying to save jobs–middle class jobs–the kind that has helped out working people get ahead.
she should be commended. not trashed by the likes of you. idiot
Claire McCaskill hasn’t done one damn thing for the “middle class.” Her husbands nursing homes don’t provide middle class jobs. This is a dog and pony show and AB will be purchased by Inbev or not. There isn’t one thing Claire can do about it. You know it, I know it, she knows it. Idiot.