On Jul 20, 2007, at 6:42 PM, Auguste Blanqui wrote:
> I brought the Ford/GM issue up at the Left Forum panel on health
> insurance,
> and someone in the audience said that big business doesn't want NHI
> because
> of interlocking capital. The guy said that Ford/GM/et. al have
> investments
> in funds that invest in insurance companies (or direct stock) or
> sit on
> boards of such companies. Probably true, but would be interesting
> to see
> the extent and then explore how it affects big employers' lobbying.
I'm skeptical of this. Ford and GM are not quite at death's door, but they're definitely somewhere on the approach road. One or two board memberships in common and a portion of the pension portfolio wouldn't be enough to outweigh the survival instinct. I just looked at the Ford board and there's not a single interlock with an insurance company. The CEO of Nokia, which is based in a social democracy, is on the board.
Doug