This page was last updated on May 19, 2015.
Old Hometown Memories ...; Carl Davidson; Facebook; May 18, 2015.
You can learn more about BCR’s leftster management here. “Leftster” is the combination of leftist and gangster, inspired by the left-originated “bankster.”
Carl Davidson (KD): “OLD HOMETOWN MEMORIES....The ‘after demolition’ shot is largely what you see today, one of the country’s largest ‘brownfields’ where even weeds have a tough time. ‘We’re not in business to make steel,’ said the last owners, ‘we’re in business to make money.’ So they gutted it, cashed out and went into speculation In [sic] oil futures. They’re [sic] didn’t have to. They could have modernized, and continue to make steel at a profit, with a much reduced work force, as in Chicago, but they took the ‘low road’ and dumped the consequences on the rest of us. A good argument for workers owning their factories--one worker, one share, one vote.”
Please go here for a thumbnail version of LTV/J&L Aliquippa history during the time period relevant to this discussion.
This is another of KD’s many fairy tales. KD postings on this topic go back to at least November 3, 2008. In some of these postings, KD confuses LTV Steel with United States Steel (USS). With the possible exception of the “brownfields” comment, just about all of the facts and claims KD presents are false. As of the posting date of this critique, there were 28 Likes and nine non-KD Comments. None of the comments questioned KD’s story. Who knows how many other people read and believe KD’s story is true? It would be bad enough if this were an exception. Sadly, though, KD has quite a documented trail of lying.
First, let’s look at the “not in business to make steel” quote. In a November 3, 2008, comment, KD wrote, “It wasn’t the left wing that gutted these mills, took the money into Marathon oil futures, and told us ‘We’re in business to make money, not steel.’ That was LTV and the right wing, their exact words.” Clearly, KD wants his followers to believe someone at LTV uttered this quote. But is it true? No. The full quote is “We’re not in business to make steel, we’re not in business to build ships, we’re not in business to erect buildings. We’re in business to make money.” In a previous critique my research led me to write, “David Roderick of USS (president or CEO & chairman depending on the date) allegedly made the comment in 1979.” My current research indicates Bethlehem Steel’s controller Frank Brugler made this comment during an interview by Fortune magazine during the spring of 1962. In any case, the source of the quote was NOT LTV, the Aliquippa Works’ “last owners” from 1968 to 2001/2002.
Second, what about “the last owners … gutted it, cashed out and went into speculation In [sic] oil futures?” From his 2008 comment, we know KD wants his followers to believe LTV “gutted” the Aliquippa Works to dabble in “speculation In [sic] oil futures” by buying Marathon Oil Company in 1982. I found nothing to indicate LTV dabbled in the oil industry. Further, LTV was still acquiring steel facilities during the late-1970s and early-to-mid-1980s. LTV didn’t buy Marathon, USS did. Obviously, the USS purchase of Marathon had nothing to do with LTV’s Aliquippa Works. Marathon returned to being an independent company in 2002.
Though it’s a bit off topic because it had had nothing to do with the Aliquippa Works, what did USS really do since KD mentioned it? USS bought Marathon Oil Company, lock, stock, and barrel; USS didn’t buy “Marathon oil futures.” KD knowingly misused the term “futures.” According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, futures are “Commercial contracts calling for the purchase or sale of specified quantities of a good at specified future dates. The good in question may be grain, livestock, precious metals, or financial instruments such as treasury bills. Up until the time the contract calls for the delivery of the good, the contract is subject to speculation.” Buying an entire business is not gambling in futures. The use of the term “futures” was an attempt to link LTV with one of the left’s current boogeymen, evil speculators. To be consistent with KD’s language, LTV gambled in steel futures when it acquired J&L in 1968 and other steel companies in the 1970s and 1980s. USS also continued to gamble on steel futures when it acquired LTV’s tin mill business in 2001 and purchased National Steel Corporation assets out of bankruptcy in 2003.
Continuing with KD’s usage of “futures,” the United Steelworkers of America (USW) itself has gambled on “futures” in other industries. According to “Steelworkers a minority within their own union,” as of 2005 less than one-third (about 180,000 out of about 600,000) of USW “members [are] employed in the primary and fabricated metals industries.” This gambling on “futures” includes “the chemicals, glass, rubber, tires, transportation, utilities and container industries, and even health care.”
Third, let’s look at the “They could have modernized … as in Chicago …” comment. As far as I can tell, LTV never had a Chicago steel mill, though it did have a coke-making facility there. If KD is again mixing up LTV and USS, USS closed its South Chicago Works in 1992. If you check the USS website, you’ll find the only USS steel mill in Illinois is in Granite City at the other end of the state from Chicago, but USS didn’t own that plant during the subject timeframe. USS acquired the Granite City Works from National Steel in 2003. USS operates a tin mill acquired from LTV in East Chicago, but East Chicago is in Indiana. In fairness, it’s possible KD meant the USS Gary Works in nearby Gary, IN, though I don’t know about the production and employment figures and I wouldn’t trust any “facts” presented by KD. Once again, however, it doesn’t matter since USS had nothing to do with the Aliquippa Works. Some people like KD claim LTV made little or no investments in the Aliquippa Works. From what I can tell, that claim is false.
You can find a lot more on this topic in my critique of “Brownfields, Cleanups and Anti-Union Cranks.” You may note some inconsistencies between these two critiques, but that’s a result of KD mixing up LTV and USS.
Concluding his truth-challenged piece, KD asserts, “A good argument for workers owning their factories--one worker, one share, one vote.” How does KD know things would have turned out better? Should we believe if all U.S. steel mills had been “one worker, one share, one vote” they would all still operate profitably and there would be no employee displacement? Plenty of employee-owned businesses fail. For example, the employees of National Steel’s Weirton Steel bought the plant in 1983. Weirton Steel filed for bankruptcy in 2003 and is now owned by ArcelorMittal. Formerly a fully-integrated steel mill, the Weirton works employed 12,000 to 13,000 at its peak. Currently producing only cold-rolled sheet and tin plate, the Weirton works employs a little less than 1,000 employees. I don’t care if a business is organized as “one worker, one share, one vote,” proprietorship, partnership, corporation, and so on. There’s nothing stopping anyone from organizing a business as KD described. I suspect it’s like other types of business organization (proprietorship, partnership, corporation, etc.) in that it may work in some situations but not in others. I do have a problem with hucksters trying to present their ideology-based choice as the solution to all problems.
In Peace, Friendship, Community, Cooperation, and Solidarity. <g>
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