the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist
“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx
the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist
“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx
Feb 15, 2010
Crisis or not, the capitalists continue to throw billions around. Among the latest deals, Kraft Foods recently bought the British company Cadbury for a stupendous 18 billion dollars–six times what Kraft made in profit in 2008.
Cadbury is the British candy company that produces a number of well-known brands such as Hollywood Chewing Gum and many candy and chocolate bars. Kraft Foods is a giant international group, which has been buying up brands all over the world. In this country, it produces Kraft cheeses, Oscar Mayer meats, Philadelphia cream cheese, Maxwell House coffee, Nabisco crackers and Oreo cookies, among many other products.
With that same 18 billion dollars Kraft spent on Cadbury, it could pay 500,000 workers $3,000 a month to go on working a whole year. Instead, Kraft has announced its intention to make its employees foot the bill for its spending spree.
Kraft Foods has begun to cut its expenses by restructuring its head offices. And it already announced layoffs at Cadbury in Great Britain.
While the bill for this operation is being presented to the workers of the Kraft group, in the form of layoffs and of speedup, the capitalists have been generous to their accomplices. Kraft Foods distributed over 100 million dollars in commissions to the bankers who served as intermediaries in this transaction.