Home > News > 2006 and the plutocracy
January 24th, 2007
2006 and the plutocracy
Abstract:
In the "life industries" sector the most important deal was the purchase of the Biomet company bought by an investment combine including the Blackstone Group and the Texas Pacific Group. This acquisition is important for various reasons. It marks a trend among private investment groups competing for acquisitions : one is not dealing only with competition among corporations within the sector, but rather with investment groups that simply rate the deal, they do not care about the business itself, only its profit potential. In that light, it is significant that Biomet is a business dedicated to the sale of medical prostheses, several of which stem from the use of bio-nanotechnology. Beyond whether these prostheses might help whoever needs them rather than cause new problems, in this context they indicate an industry trend to invest aggressively in "improving human performance", in other words, the definition by the industry of who can (who ought to?) be "improved", opening up a new gap between those who can pay and those who cannot.
Source:
zmag.org
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