US economic dominance: why we must break free |
Foreign corporate ownership now dominates Australia’s key industries, draining wealth offshore and limiting democratic control over economic priorities. Reclaiming sovereignty requires a fundamental rethink of ownership and public power.
US corporate dominance of our economy is depriving Australians of the benefit of our abundant resources and denying our government sovereign control over our economy. It’s time to break free.
That we, Australians, live under the military, economic and cultural domination of the United States is a fact of life and to our great disadvantage. Whilst much has been written about the military domination expressed through subservience to the US alliance and embracing its sub-sets – AUKUS and the Force Posture Agreement – less is known of US economic domination and its disastrous impact on our everyday life. But it helps explain why a wealthy country has so many poor, homeless and workers struggling to keep their heads above the financial waters.
Len Fox, in his 1980 book Multinationals take over Australia, detailed the foreign control of various industries: “Motor vehicles 99.8 per cent, oil refining (ownership) 90.8 per cent, basic chemicals 78 per cent, pharmaceuticals 77.8 per cent, transport equipment 54.6 per cent, basic metals 38 per cent, textiles 33.3 per cent, [and] food, beverages, tobacco 33.2 per cent.”
These figures were obtained from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) but unfortunately more up-to-date figures are not available from this source as John Howard, treasurer under the Fraser government, stopped the ABS collecting data on foreign ownership in 1978. The figures were becoming an embarrassment at a time when the Fraser Government was encouraging foreign investment.
We are indebted to The Conversation and Clinton Fernandes for more up-to-date information on foreign ownership of industry in Australia, and I quote:
“Right now US corporations eclipse everyone else in their ability to influence........