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March-April 1972
has many billions of dollars of equip–
ment and manpower in the U. S., justas
the U. S. has in Europe. Thc corpora–
tJOns then serve as "mutual hostages" in
case relations between superpowers
bccome hostile.
Such an interwoveo network of busi–
ness is now
beghming
between Western
nations and the Communist bloc.
It
is
not yet any insurance against war, but if
developed, it could be a force for East–
West peace within a decade.
East Meets West
Ford Motors' overtures behind the
Iron Curtain represented the first
potential breakthrough in major East–
West business sharing. Henry Ford
II
noted, "The interweaving of Western
Europe's economies since World War
11
has now made it unthinkable, for the
first time in history, that any country in
the West could makc war on any
others.." Now he is hoping to help engi–
neer the same cooperation between the
USSR and the U. S. He added, however,
" International trade does not make war
impossible
but it does make it
less
likely."
Petty nationalism, religious conflict,
and the freakish tendency of human
nature to open its mind to the spirit
of fear and hate can still propel
The
PLAIN TRUTH
nations to the madness of war.
Yet, world business can do its part.
f'or example, American and Russian
citizens have always shown they get
along fine on a personal leve! - music,
sports, or tourism. An East-West trade
door would open up
nmch mol'e
of such
personal cooperation, mutual tolerance,
and sharing of ideas. Hopefully, the
politiciaos would follow the common
man in such understanding.
World-based companies need such
peaceful political conditions as free
and open trade routes, common busi–
ness codes, common commercial stan–
dards, and prompt postal service,
among many other politically based
advantages. Through bridging two
national economies, world companies
become interested in the prosperity of
both
nations and the world, not just
their home country.
Thus, multinationals accidentally
cause nations to live in harmony with
those laws of conduct which help guar–
antee peace. World corporations are,
humanly speaking, a great hope for
peace under the present world political
structure.
Enter the Critic
By building up the gross
world
prod–
uct, multinational businesses undermine
33
thc economic self-sufficiency of a given
nation. Such lack of material indepen–
dcnce can be disturbing to a nation.
Why? A country which is self-sufficient
is more capable of assuming an
aggressive or even· defensivc role in
international politics. Also, such "self–
reliant" nations have no national self–
interest (sueh as their own businesses)
in other countries' economies.
Sorne nationalists charge that
U.
S.
multinationals are an extension of
American "imperialism." But the U. S.
government restricts these companies'
investments, taxes them heavily, brings
antitrust suits against them, and even
allows them to be expropciated ( over–
taken violen
ti
y by a host country) with–
out threat of retaliation.
U. S.
labor unions assert that their
employers' multinational arms give
away America's superior technological
and management expertise to foreign
nations. Unions also claim that global
companies take jobs away from Ameri–
cans aod give them to cheap foreign
labor.
According to the President's commis–
sion on Ioternational Trade and Invest–
mcnt Policy, U. S. multinationals only
go abroad when "production in the
U. S. is not a viable alternative." The
American market is so saturated with,
SI
DE BEÑtFITS
--Ar
Repre~entatives
of Siemens help Africon natives by
• ing them medic1.1l attention and teaching them proper hygiene.
SiemenJ
P1essebild