What happened last week in Seattle – and more significantly what didn’t happen – was a great example of direct democracy. By taking the streets and raising their voices, protesters set a stumbling block in the road toward an unaccountable, unelected world government by multinational corporations. Congratulations to all who participated peacefully.
Now get ready for the backlash. The free-traders were caught off-guard once, it won’t happen again. I’m betting the next WTO ministerial meeting will be held in a protest-proof police state, like Singapore, or Rudy Giuliani’s Manhattan.
Globalization is like a shark, it never stops moving or feeding. Even as protesters were dancing in the streets of Seattle, a bitter blow fell in Vermont: corporate raiders set their sights on Ben&Jerry’s.
Ben&Jerry’s is the quintessential good-guy company. They buy milk for their ice cream from Vermont family farmers who do not use bovine growth hormone, they sell that ice cream in totally chlorine-free paper cartons, they pay their workers a decent wage and treat them like people, not machines. The corporation donates seven and a half percent of its profits to charity. And, of course, they make wicked good ice cream. I like Ben&Jerry’s for all those reasons, I’m glad they’re in my community.
On Wall Street, all those things I just mentioned are reasons stock analysts don’t like Ben&Jerry’s. Because B&J’s spends time and money acting responsibly toward their workers, their community and the environment – that tells Wall Street Ben and Jerry do not wring every last nickel of profit out of the company, and so B&J stock sells for a low price on the NASDAQ national market.
Everyone knows and loves Ben&Jerry’s ice cream – combine that high profile with a low stock price and it’s no surprise corporate pirates are preparing their boarding parties. If another company does acquire Ben&Jerry’s, it’s likely they’ll do away with those good-guy practices I mentioned earlier and send the money to the bottom line.
So, why don’t Ben and Jerry just say no? Well, Ben&Jerry’s isn’t just Ben and Jerry any more. It’s a publicly traded company and the board of directors is bound to accept a lucrative purchase offer or face lawsuits by shareholders. That’s how an outside company can come to Vermont and force a decision no one wants to make.
Among those said to be eyeing Ben&Jerry’s is a Pillsbury-Nestle partnership. If they buy B&J’s, that’s just another piece of Vermont that will be lost to globalization. Vermont already gets most of its power from Canada, one of our largest grocery chains is owned by an English company and if this deal goes through, Ben&Jerry’s may be based in Switzerland. All that, and we still can’t get Cuban cigars.
Disturbing as it may be for Vermonters to lose control of our economy and our access to things like power and food, we’re generally a prosperous and well-educated bunch of people. We can fend for ourselves pretty well. Loss of local control lands harder in Mexico, in India and throughout the African continent. Multinational corporations see those countries as resource banks and sources of cheap labor.
In the larger sweep of life, the fight for control of Ben&Jerry’s is a minor thing – but if this is what happens here, imagine what it’s like elsewhere.
What Happens Here
What happened last week in Seattle – and more significantly what didn’t happen – was a great example of direct democracy. By taking the streets and raising their voices, protesters set a stumbling block in the road toward an unaccountable, unelected world government by multinational corporations. Congratulations to all who participated peacefully.
Now get ready for the backlash. The free-traders were caught off-guard once, it won’t happen again. I’m betting the next WTO ministerial meeting will be held in a protest-proof police state, like Singapore, or Rudy Giuliani’s Manhattan.
Globalization is like a shark, it never stops moving or feeding. Even as protesters were dancing in the streets of Seattle, a bitter blow fell in Vermont: corporate raiders set their sights on Ben&Jerry’s.
Ben&Jerry’s is the quintessential good-guy company. They buy milk for their ice cream from Vermont family farmers who do not use bovine growth hormone, they sell that ice cream in totally chlorine-free paper cartons, they pay their workers a decent wage and treat them like people, not machines. The corporation donates seven and a half percent of its profits to charity. And, of course, they make wicked good ice cream. I like Ben&Jerry’s for all those reasons, I’m glad they’re in my community.
On Wall Street, all those things I just mentioned are reasons stock analysts don’t like Ben&Jerry’s. Because B&J’s spends time and money acting responsibly toward their workers, their community and the environment – that tells Wall Street Ben and Jerry do not wring every last nickel of profit out of the company, and so B&J stock sells for a low price on the NASDAQ national market.
Everyone knows and loves Ben&Jerry’s ice cream – combine that high profile with a low stock price and it’s no surprise corporate pirates are preparing their boarding parties. If another company does acquire Ben&Jerry’s, it’s likely they’ll do away with those good-guy practices I mentioned earlier and send the money to the bottom line.
So, why don’t Ben and Jerry just say no? Well, Ben&Jerry’s isn’t just Ben and Jerry any more. It’s a publicly traded company and the board of directors is bound to accept a lucrative purchase offer or face lawsuits by shareholders. That’s how an outside company can come to Vermont and force a decision no one wants to make.
Among those said to be eyeing Ben&Jerry’s is a Pillsbury-Nestle partnership. If they buy B&J’s, that’s just another piece of Vermont that will be lost to globalization. Vermont already gets most of its power from Canada, one of our largest grocery chains is owned by an English company and if this deal goes through, Ben&Jerry’s may be based in Switzerland. All that, and we still can’t get Cuban cigars.
Disturbing as it may be for Vermonters to lose control of our economy and our access to things like power and food, we’re generally a prosperous and well-educated bunch of people. We can fend for ourselves pretty well. Loss of local control lands harder in Mexico, in India and throughout the African continent. Multinational corporations see those countries as resource banks and sources of cheap labor.
In the larger sweep of life, the fight for control of Ben&Jerry’s is a minor thing – but if this is what happens here, imagine what it’s like elsewhere.