Sunday, May 30, 2004
Piggybacking: Running for President from abroad?
My father used to be an employee of what is now the Altria group. When I was younger, I used to keep up with business acquisitions, if only because I found it somewhat interesting that Philip Morris seemed to be buying up everything in sight.
So it came as some surprise to me (since I haven't kept up with this sort of thing with the same vigilance in some time) that the company then known as Philip Morris Companies sold majority control of Miller Brewing to South African Breweries almost exactly two years ago. Of course, I don't imagine that business acquisitions have somehow become rarer since I was younger, it's just that I guess I haven't paid attention to some of them.
Now it would be worth knowing more about Miller's history: Miller is far older than thirty-five years old, and was born in the United States, even though it was apparently adopted by a parent of foreign birth. Apparently money changed hands in the process of this "adoption," so you can make as much political capital of that as you want. It remains clear that Miller continues to claim citizenship in Wisconsin, at least as far as Miller's outward claims are concerned.
So you be the judge. Has Miller met all of the constitutional requirements to be "President of Beers"? Does the fact that Miller is, in fact, a majority-owned subsidiary of a foreign conglomerate amount to Miller having renounced its American citizenship, or given the claim of domicile in Wisconsin, is Miller merely living abroad while retaining American citizenship?
And will we need a Supreme Court case to figure this one out? Dare I say it?
Miller v. Busch?
(Think about it for a moment. Then think about it again. It all makes sense.)
Comments(0) |
My father used to be an employee of what is now the Altria group. When I was younger, I used to keep up with business acquisitions, if only because I found it somewhat interesting that Philip Morris seemed to be buying up everything in sight.
So it came as some surprise to me (since I haven't kept up with this sort of thing with the same vigilance in some time) that the company then known as Philip Morris Companies sold majority control of Miller Brewing to South African Breweries almost exactly two years ago. Of course, I don't imagine that business acquisitions have somehow become rarer since I was younger, it's just that I guess I haven't paid attention to some of them.
Now it would be worth knowing more about Miller's history: Miller is far older than thirty-five years old, and was born in the United States, even though it was apparently adopted by a parent of foreign birth. Apparently money changed hands in the process of this "adoption," so you can make as much political capital of that as you want. It remains clear that Miller continues to claim citizenship in Wisconsin, at least as far as Miller's outward claims are concerned.
So you be the judge. Has Miller met all of the constitutional requirements to be "President of Beers"? Does the fact that Miller is, in fact, a majority-owned subsidiary of a foreign conglomerate amount to Miller having renounced its American citizenship, or given the claim of domicile in Wisconsin, is Miller merely living abroad while retaining American citizenship?
And will we need a Supreme Court case to figure this one out? Dare I say it?
Miller v. Busch?
(Think about it for a moment. Then think about it again. It all makes sense.)
Comments(0) |
