"James Beck" wrote in message
th.net...
In article ,
says...
"Michael A. Terrell" wrote in message
...
William Sommerwerck wrote:

Speaking of steel mills... Do you remember the tax break American steel
companies got back in the '70s? Do you remember what they did with it?

When was this? I spent part of the '70s in the US Army.

It was during the Carter administration. The steel industry got one-time
tax
breaks, so it could upgrade its facilities to remain competitive.
Instead,
the steel companies used the money to buy other companies that were doing
well, so they could give their stockholders a better return.

In other words, the steel companies viewed themselves as being in
business
to make profits for their stockholders, rather than to manufacture and
sell
steel.

No, they bought companies that had already invested in better
technology, rather than doing upgrades to older plants. The idea was to
make the company profitable and able to financially maneuver faster. It
worked, the US steel industry is a $75 billion dollar a year industry
and those companies are still employing people. If you don't like how
they manage their money start your own steel company and do it better.
THAT is the American way, whining isn't.

That is absolutely not correct. They bought businesses that had nothing
whatever to do with steel manufacture, and failed to upgrade their
infrastructure.