The "Arsenal of Democracy" just got sold to the Japanese

Joined
Aug 31, 2007
Messages
117,724
U.S. Steel, Which Helped America’s ‘Arsenal of Democracy’ Defeat Japan in WWII, Sold to Japanese Company

https://www.breitbart.com/economy/2...racy-defeat-japan-wwii-sold-japanese-company/

JOHN BINDER 18 Dec 2023

The United States Steel Corporation, which played a critical role in helping the Allies defeat Imperial Japan and Nazi Germany in World War II, is now being sold to Japan’s largest steelmaker.

Early on Monday, executives with U.S. Steel and Nippon Steel Corporation announced the nearly $15 billion deal, which vows to uphold the U.S. Steelworkers’ (USW) labor contract and will be completed mid-2024, though shareholders for U.S. Steel must still give their stamp of approval.

Following news of the deal, USW President David McCall blasted the decision as “the same greedy, shortsighted attitude that has guided U.S. Steel for far too long.”

“We remained open throughout this process to working with U.S. Steel to keep this iconic American company domestically owned and operated, but instead it chose to push aside the concerns of its dedicated workforce and sell to a foreign-owned company,” McCall said in a statement:

Neither U.S. Steel nor Nippon reached out to our union regarding the deal, which is in itself a violation of our partnership agreement that requires U.S. Steel to notify us of a change in control or business conditions. [Emphasis added]

Based on this alone, the USW does not believe that Nippon understands the full breadth of the obligations of all our agreements, and we do not know whether it has the capacity to live up to our existing contract. This includes not just the day-to-day commitments of our labor agreement, but also significant obligations to fund pension and retiree insurance benefits that are the most extensive in the domestic steel industry. [Emphasis added]

The sale of U.S. Steel, which was founded in 1901 by Andrew Carnegie, J.P. Morgan, and Charles Schwab, to Nippon is significant as the steelmaker served a critical role in the nation’s “Arsenal of Democracy” during WWII.

Among several American companies that helped the Allies defeat the Axis Powers, which included Imperial Japan, U.S. Steel made the U.S. the world’s largest steel producer during the war with Pennsylvania becoming the nation’s steel capital.
 
A country that cannot or will not process its own raw materials into finished products is just a resource colony for those that will.
 
A country that cannot or will not process its own raw materials into finished products is just a resource colony for those that will.

I used to work for ARMCO steel... They were bought out by the Japanese in the early 90's. It was a sad day for our little mill town, but would have been devastating without it. AK, as the new company was called, got bought by Cleveland Cliffs a few years ago, but they still refer to the plant as AK Steel.

Here's the thing, though... The plant stopped making "new" steel from raw materials a long time ago. Now, it takes scrap metal and makes new products. US does the same thing.
 
My G Grandparents immigrated to Pittsburgh in the late 1800's and worked directly in the steel industry. They worked hard but accumulated wealth in their lifetimes. Their children all worked hard and accumulated more wealth. My parents had the luxury of attending college and working outside of these hardcore industries and accumulated wealth.

Now, me and my siblings will slowly squander it frivolously in some cases, or out of necessity in others.

An apt metaphor to compare it with is today's steel industry, only existing on cannibalizing the scraps of the past....

Until there will be nothing left.
 
Back
Top