I don’t know, but I don’t think its as straightforward as blocking a merger on antitrust grounds. Maybe there is a national security angle, perhaps the national defense authorization act that gets trotted out for like everything these days. After all steal is important in wartime (but it’s not like factories are being moved to Japan). But even then you’d have to give the middle finger to an important ally, tell shareholders their not going to get a big windfall from the sale, and then sit back and wait for the inevitable consolidation layoffs to roll in during the middle of an election. Not great options. Or you could try to educate the American public that the sale is actually overall a good thing, but good luck with that, especially with shameless Republicans, especially trump, howling about globalism and whatnot. Even Dems who understand this, like Sherrod Brown, are agitating against it cause the politics are rotten. If the public was literate and capable of nuance, this would be a lot easier, but that ship sailed at least 40 years ago.
I don’t know, but I don’t think its as straightforward as blocking a merger on antitrust grounds. Maybe there is a national security angle, perhaps the national defense authorization act that gets trotted out for like everything these days. After all steal is important in wartime (but it’s not like factories are being moved to Japan). But even then you’d have to give the middle finger to an important ally, tell shareholders their not going to get a big windfall from the sale, and then sit back and wait for the inevitable consolidation layoffs to roll in during the middle of an election. Not great options. Or you could try to educate the American public that the sale is actually overall a good thing, but good luck with that, especially with shameless Republicans, especially trump, howling about globalism and whatnot. Even Dems who understand this, like Sherrod Brown, are agitating against it cause the politics are rotten. If the public was literate and capable of nuance, this would be a lot easier, but that ship sailed at least 40 years ago.