If you read this book you would probably wonder why Trump would ever consider sanctions on the UK.

The main trigger for increased American ownership of British business was started under Thatcher with her privatisations. All future Prime Ministers presided over a similar openness to US investment.

The crucial element was the British goverments’ Attitude to Foreign Direct Investment [FDI].  All shades of governments have welcomed this. Sunak saie we get more US than the rest of Europe together, Labour is saying the same claiming that this makes us great.

The writer explains the obvious, that if the crown jewels of industry are being bought, the country is withering. There is a difference in an investment that sets up and invests in firms with one that just buys existing industry.

Rise of Private Equity

The big change in this is role of private equity firms. They raise huge loans, buy the industry and then move it offshore so that they pay minimal tax, compared to what the purchased company paid. 17 of the top 20 private equity funds in the world are American.

These companies look for the right situation, as they did with the pandemic.  They saw many companies struggling, and a huge number of British firms were brought up. They then reduced workforces, lowered wages and worsened conditions.

So this is not just a UK nationalist position, as we see from developments in the US. Capital is taking more control over society, and dictating over governments.

Each chapter of the book deals with an aspect of US control.

In food you would be amazed how much of your supermarket purchase is either controlled or processed by US companies. Then you come to the supermarkets, Morrisons is US owned and Walmart still has a state in Asda, which if formerly owned.

The British government provided none of the facts in the book, because it does not record purchases by nationality, many of the figures come from the US.

Subscription services are very profitable

With regard to commodity deliveries Amazon dominates with more than half of all deliveries including sales which has driven many booksellers, for example out of business. They also sell for other businesses, and take a cut.

 On food American firms dominate the takeaway market.  Silicon Valley companies also have interests in transport with Uber and Lyft, as well as electric bike hires.

On finance Visa and MasterCard, take a cut out of a huge proportion of sales.  If you do not pay off your card debt the same companies get the huge interest.  Most of the cashpoint machines are American owned and US banks are massively expanding in the City.

One facet of the American system is to get people hooked up with regular payments, subscribing or leasing rather that owning, so that they are guaranteed a recurring income.

Government paid infrastructure subsidises US companies

Obviously the main domination by the US is in Big Tech. A good chapter on this shows how this has come about, and how this uses the other major technique, which is constant expansion. If you already have the product grown to a mature level in the huge US market, when you go into other countries, your development costs are nearly nil, also you are rich enough to buy out any competition.

This shows up another question unanswered by the labour government. It says it wants to create the Silicon Valley of Europe, with huge AI development between Oxford and Cambridge. The Labour government is going to create huge water resources for it, plus nuclear power stations.  What it doesn’t say is who the companies are. It is obvious the British taxpayer will be providing the infrastructure for US companies. The French have one major AI company the Chinese have several, but the UK none.

The book reveals information about the other US companies that dominate, for example those  outsourcing for the NHS. Labour has said it wants to expand this pernicious public/private partnership. All this and US drug companies control a huge proportion of the drugs distributed here. With regard to future vaccines, the British government closed a lab in Oxfordshire, and Moderna has opened one in its place. The Labour government also reduced the offer to AstraZenica to develop a lab in Liverpool, and this plan has now been dropped.

Various figures are given estimating US control of the UK economy, at between 20 and 40%.

This is way more than any other major economy, because they other countries have rules on the percentage of companies owned from outside, especially in strategic industries. 

Mandelson, as UK ambassador to the US has said that there should be no response to Trumps tariffs, the answer is to get more US investment.

The only answer to this is a class one in which British workers unite with those in Europe and the US to face this monstrous enemy.

A very timely book, I have just touched on the main points. It is good resource for our movement.

Tony Richardson