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Battelle (http://www.battelle.org/) is one of those U.S. military contract parasite entities that submits bids for work that they have no actual self-ability. If they win the bid, they’ll contract out the work, and the U.S. taxpayer ends up paying at least twice what the end result is worth. This atmosphere of government procurement is where the $1,200 toilet seats originate.

The global Ford Ranger pickup, Toyota Hilux pickup and Toyota 70-Series Land Cruiser are coming to the United States. But you'll need to enlist in the Army and pass a grueling special operations course to get behind the wheel. http://www.toyota.co.za/ranges/land-cruiser-76 http://www3.toyota.com.au/landcruiser-70 http://www.toyota.co.za/ranges/hilux-double-cab http://www3.toyota.com.au/hilux The US Special Operations Command (SOCOM) has agreed to a deal with the Battelle Memorial Institute, worth up to $170 million over five years – with the option for two more years – to take off-the-shelf Ford Ranger pickups, Toyota Hilux pickups and Toyota 70-Series Land Cruisers and fit them with armor, heavy-duty suspension components, upgraded brakes, run-flat tires, new wheels, and sophisticated communications and observation equipment. The overall idea is to build a truck with inconspicuous looks to protect and allow communications between troops while blending into traffic in potentially hostile countries. According to Military Aerospace, Battelle is going to provide "all materials, equipment, hard tooling, personnel, and facilities necessary to manufacture, fabricate, integrate, produce, and test the up-armored trucks and SUVs with Special Operations communications gear aboard." That makes it sound like a lot of the work is going to be out of the military's hands. The contract is for 556 vehicles, over two-thirds of which Battelle would fit with armor. Mostly, Uncle Sam is mostly interested in the 70-Series Land Cruiser. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [Unqualified contractor] Battelle to build armored trucks and SUVs for US Special Forces U.S. unconventional warfare experts are developing armored sport utility vehicles (SUVs) and trucks that look like ordinary stock vehicles, but that have military-grade vetronics, communications, night vision, ballistic protection, mobility, and tires designed to survive enemy small-arms fire. Military vehicles experts at U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM) at MacDill Air Force Base, Fla., are looking to the Battelle Memorial Institute in Columbus, Ohio, for the five-year potential $170 million Non-Standard Commercial Vehicles (NSCV) program. SOCOM announced the NSCV contract (H92222-16-D-0043) to Battelle on Wednesday. The company will manufacture modified commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) Toyota Land Cruiser SUVs, Toyota Hilux crew-cab pickup trucks, and Ford Ranger light pickup trucks that retain the original equipment manufacturer's profile while supporting new armor, heavy-duty suspension and brakes, run-flat tires and wheels, vetronics, and communications equipment. The contract is for as many as 556 vehicles -- 396 armored and 160 unarmored -- with most of them consisting of the Toyota Land Cruiser models 76 and 79, officials say. SOCOM officials may order fewer of these modified vehicles if they choose. SOCOM experts are ordering trucks and SUVs that offer low risk in system survivability, system-level maturity, manufacture, supportability, and life cycle costs. Battelle will provide all materials, equipment, hard tooling, personnel, and facilities necessary to manufacture, fabricate, integrate, produce, and test the up-armored trucks and SUVs with Special Operations communications gear aboard. The Toyota and Ford SUVs and pickup trucks will have various levels of enhanced crew protection, mobility, and operational capabilities. Vehicles will have special armor, suspension, brakes, frames and body reinforcements, as well as infrared lighting, blackout mode, and Special Operations command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (C4ISR) equipment. The Battelle-modified trucks and SUVs will go through a design review process and approval after the Special Operations upgrades are completed, and then will be integrated into an initial vehicle lot. The modified vehicles then will go through a contractor and government production qualification test. After testing, the government may issue delivery orders for production. This indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity NSCV contract has a five-year potential $170 million ordering period with a potential $60 million two-year option. On this contract Battelle will do most of the work in Columbus, Ohio, and should be finished by July 2023. For more information contact Battelle online at www.battelle.org, or SOCOM at www.socom.mil.

Leaked DNC emails reveal the inner workings of the party’s finance operation The Washington Post / July 24, 2016 In the rush for big donations to pay for this week’s Democratic convention, a party staffer reached out to Tennessee donor Roy Cockrum in May with a special offer: the chance to attend a roundtable discussion with President Obama. Cockrum, already a major Democratic contributor, was in. He gave an additional $33,400. And eight days later, he was assigned a place across the table from Obama at the Jefferson Hotel in downtown Washington, according to a seating chart sent to the White House. The 28-person gathering drew rave reviews from the wealthy party financiers who attended. “Wonderful event yesterday,” New York lawyer Robert Pietrzak wrote to his Democratic National Committee (DNC) contact. “A lot of foreign policy, starting with my question on China. The President was in great form.” The details of the high-dollar event were captured in the trove of internal DNC emails released last week by the site WikiLeaks that has riled the party as delegates gather in Philadelphia to nominate Hillary Clinton. Internal discussions of the May 18 event with Obama and other aggressive efforts to woo major donors reveal how the drive for big money consumes the political parties as they scramble to keep up in the age of super PACs. The DNC emails show how the party has tried to leverage its greatest weapon — the president — as it entices wealthy backers to bankroll the convention and other needs. At times, DNC staffers used language in their pitches to donors that went beyond what lawyers said was permissible under a White House policy designed to prevent any perception that special interests have access to the president. Top White House aides also get involved in wooing contributors, according to the emails. White House political director David Simas, for instance, met in May with a half-dozen top party financiers in Chicago, including Fred Eychaner, one of the top Democratic donors in the country, the documents show. Laws and ethics White House officials said Obama’s attendance at DNC events is well within the law and the administration’s own ethics policies. “As presidents of both parties have done for decades, President Obama takes seriously his role as the head of the Democratic Party,” White House spokeswoman Jennifer Friedman said in a statement. “To this end, the President participates in a range of events to raise awareness and support for the party, and to outline his priorities for making progress for the American people, in line with federal election and ethics laws.” The leaked emails reveal the relentless art of donor maintenance that undergirds the system: the flattery, cajoling and favor-bestowing that goes into winning rich supporters. It’s a practice that the party fundraisers themselves often find dispiriting. “He’s just awful and if I could have him sitting outside of the room, I absolutely would have,” a DNC finance staffer said of one Florida donor attending the May 18 event with Obama. DNC finance officials did not respond to requests for comment. A party spokesman said the DNC had “revolutionized online fundraising and worked to rein in the influence of special interests” during Obama’s time in office. The spokesman said the DNC, while seeking to broaden its donor base to keep up with the Koch brothers and other wealthy conservative interests, had taken steps to “prevent any improper attempt to influence government policy.” The DNC and its Republican counterpart have both stepped up their hunt for huge checks since a series of legal changes in 2014 gave them leeway to collect expansive contributions for new accounts to pay for building, legal and convention expenses. The top-tier donor package for this week’s Democratic National Convention required a donor to raise $1.25 million or give $467,600 since January 2015, according to a document in the emails. In return, a contributor got booking in Philadelphia at a premier hotel, VIP credentials and six slots at “an exclusive roundtable and campaign briefing with high-level Democratic officials,” according to the terms. Those perks were aggressively pushed to donors this spring as DNC staffers worked to try to pay for the party’s share of the convention, a tab that had been covered by public funds in previous years. When Pietrzak, who had already given his annual maximum to the party, expressed interest in attending the May 18 event with Obama, a party staffer responded to her colleague: “No chance of getting more $ out of them, is there? Push the convention packages as an incentive?” Pietrzak and other donors did not respond to requests for comment. The emails also show the intensive efforts to get corporations to sign on as sponsors of the convention’s host committee — a reversal from 2012, when Obama prohibited such donations. Last year, the DNC, in consultation with Clinton’s campaign, also decided to reverse a ban on donations from the PACs of corporations, unions and other groups. After those limits were lifted, DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz and other top party officials showered corporate lobbyists with calls, emails and personal meetings seeking convention support and PAC contributions to the party, according to a spreadsheet logging the contacts. In one May email, a DNC finance staffer asked whether the conglomerate Honeywell could get a hotel room in Philadelphia for a $60,000 donation to the host committee. “This is $60k we definitely wouldn’t get otherwise and Honeywell is the biggest PAC contributor in the country,” she wrote, adding: “They’re definitely a bit pissy about our PAC policy flip flop and that offering this gesture would definitely help our relationships with them for later in the election cycle and for years to come.” The chance to build the event around the president in May set off a race inside the DNC finance office to recruit new donors. “Have at it with Potus. Prefer at a hotel. No pacs and no lobbyists,” finance director Jordan Kaplan wrote to one of his deputies, Alexandra Shapiro, at the beginning of the month, adding: “This will probably be our only event in May. Lot of eyes on this one.” “Wow! Really?” she responded excitedly, adding three applauding emoji. Shapiro passed along the message about the event to her colleagues: “New money is the priority so if you have folks that are sitting on their max out, this may be a way to get them in,” she wrote. Before the invitation was sent, an associate at Perkins Coie, the DNC’s outside law firm, weighed in with a caution on the language. “Let’s remove the word round table on page 2 at the top (‘$33,400 — Round table discussion guest’),” Ruthzee Louijeune emailed Scott Comers, the DNC’s finance chief of staff. “As you know, WH policy restricts the use of language that gives the appearance that contributors can pay for policy access to the President.” A place at the table But the emails show several instances in which DNC fundraisers pitched donors with promises of a “roundtable” chat with Obama. On May 6, the southern finance director emailed ­Cockrum, the Tennessee donor, about packages available for the Philadelphia convention. “If [you] were willing to contribute $33,400 we can bump you up a level to the Fairmont,” he wrote, referring to a luxury hotel. “Additionally, your generous contribution would allow you to attend a small roundtable we are having with President Obama in DC on May 18th or a dinner in NYC on June 8th.” On the afternoon of the event, the place of honor, at Obama’s side, went to New York philanthropist Phil Munger. Kaplan noted to Shapiro in an email that Munger was one of the largest donors to Organizing for Action, a nonprofit group that advocates for Obama’s legislative agenda. “It would be nice to take care of him from the DNC side,” Kaplan wrote, adding: “He is looking to give his money in new places and I would like that to be to us.” DNC officials said there are no discussions with the nonprofit organization about its donors, noting that Munger’s support to the group is disclosed online. Before the event, Simas, the White House political director, received a briefing from the DNC on what to expect of the contributors attending. “They are interested in a conversation focused on business and economic concerns but many are also committed to education and social issues,” the memo read. The next day, Shapiro told her colleague that the event had been a success. “Q&A went well, very foreign affairs focused,” she wrote. “Dick got two questions in and Bill Eacho was very pleased with his seat. He seemed very open to the idea of doing something for us in the future, too. Thank you again for your help on this one! We raised a good chunk of change which was nice for a change (sorry for the pun, I had to).”

The Financial Times / July 24, 2016 American companies are increasing their holdings of cash in response to a rise in economic and geopolitical uncertainty, according to a survey of corporate treasurers. The data, which could be a harbinger of a pullback in business investment, come alongside cautious comments from US companies on the outlook for the third quarter. With the reporting season in full swing, Wall Street analysts no longer expect a rise in earnings. The latest survey by the Association for Financial Professionals shows companies are taking their most cautious approach to cash management since mid-2011, when markets were roiled by the eurozone debt crisis and a showdown over the US debt ceiling. “Any likelihood of organisations deploying their cash has been curtailed by the outcome of the Brexit referendum, a tepid domestic economy and continued sluggishness in the global economy,” said Craig Martin, Corporate Treasurers Council executive director. The survey, to be published on Monday, shows companies accumulated cash balances at a far quicker pace in the second quarter than in the first, and expect to do so at a still faster pace in the current quarter. An index of expectations for the current quarter jumped to plus-16 from plus-7 three months ago. The number represents the difference between the percentage of treasurers expecting to increase cash holdings and those who are expecting to decrease them. Martin said business confidence had been subdued through the recovery from the financial crisis. Capital investment and hiring by US multinationals had been held back further this year by swings in currency markets. “Even companies with the most sophisticated currency hedges are finding this one more complicating factor,” he said. Twenty five per cent of companies in the S&P 500 have reported earnings for the second quarter and a majority have come in ahead of Wall Street forecasts, but cautious outlook statements have tempered investor enthusiasm. Three quarters of those that have issued earnings forecasts for the current quarter have guided lower. That proportion is typical, but the consequence this quarter is that analysts are now expecting earnings to decline in the three months to the end of September, when last week they were expecting a 0.3 per cent increase. Industrial companies, in particular, have been scaling back their expectations, say analysts. “On March 31, the estimated earnings growth rate for Q3 was 3.3 per cent. By June 30, the estimated growth rate had declined to 0.6 per cent, and today it stands at minus 0.1 per cent.” .

Associated Press / July 24, 2016 Prime Minister Justin Trudeau rose to power last fall on a pledge not to purchase the defective F-35, an aircraft that he has said “does not work,” is too expensive, and is wholly incompatible with Canada’s defense needs pushing his country instead to move towards a deal to acquire Boeing’s Super Hornet – a fighter jet with greater air maneuverability allowing it advanced performance in air-to-air combat. That promise crashed along the shores of political reality this week as Canada reneged from its earlier proposal to acquire Boeing Super Hornet jets on an interim basis to plug the country’s air defense capability gap after Lockheed Martin threatened to pull all of its operations out of the country which would result in a massive layoff of some 10,000 employees and potentially bankrupt portions of Canada’s defense sector that benefits from the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program. The Canadian government issued a request for information from aerospace firms about the types of fighter aircraft they could provide this week, marking the pullout from their arrangement with Boeing, with companies expected to provide initial aircraft data by July 29. The Department of National Defense plans to rewrite its requirements for a new fighter jet, said Harjit Sajjan, the defense minister for the Liberal Party government. However, the existing aircraft requirements left by the previous Conservative government of Stephen Harper are designed to favor the F-35 and any attempts to radically alter the criteria will lead to another uproar by Lockheed Martin. A spokesperson for Lockheed Martin confirmed that the company is responding to the Canadian government’s request for information about the F-35, something that it had been reticent to do prior, which signals that the fix is in and that Canada has capitulated to the defense contractor’s threats and extortion. Other contenders do exist in the process including Boeing’s Super Hornet, the Eurofighter Typhoon, the Dassault Rafale, and Saab’s Gripen so Canada may ultimately decide not to purchase the F-35 against their will despite current indications. The much maligned F-35 has already cost American taxpayers upwards of $2 trillion due to its expensive and unreliable 3D-printed design along with repeated testing delays due to software malfunctions and safety hazards that have set the program back by several years. A glitch in the fighter jet’s software causes it to spontaneously shutdown mid-flight raising a host of pilot safety concerns. Those issues are exacerbated by the fact that the F-35's Martin Baker ejection seat has been shown in testing to instantly snap the neck of or decapitate pilots under 135 pounds (61.3kg) while pilots between the weights of 135 and 160 pounds (72.6kg) are believed to also be at an enhanced risk of sudden death upon ejection. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Canada Drops Original Plan to Buy Super Hornets for RCAF Tacairnet / July 21, 2016 The Royal Canadian Air Force might have to wait a little longer to receive a replacement for its rapidly-aging CF-188 Legacy Hornets, thanks to the Justin Trudeau-led government dropping its apparent plan to buy the Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet as its successor. In early June, an unnamed source revealed to the National Post that the Canadian government had already selected the Super Hornet in lieu of the Lockheed Martin F-35A Lightning II, albeit without initiating the fighter competition it had previously promised. This source, a figure within the government, claimed that all that remained to be done was the drafting of a narrative that would support this decision, so as to protect over $750 million worth of contracts offered to Canada due to the country’s earlier support of the F-35 program. In 2015, during the run-up to the October elections in Canada, Justin Trudeau’s campaign platform included a definite promise to not buy the F-35 Lightning II under any circumstance: We will immediately launch an open and transparent competition to replace the CF-18 fighter aircraft. The primary mission of our fighter aircraft should remain the defence of North America, not stealth first-strike capability.We will reduce the procurement budget for replacing the CF-18s, and will instead purchase one of the many, lower-priced options that better match Canada’s defence needs. Following the election of Trudeau and the Liberal Party to power, however, the “open and transparent competition” never actually materialized. The party’s stance on the F-35 was softened significantly as well. Defense minister Harjit Sajjan, in a conference call last December remarked: “My focus is about replacing our CF-18, and we’re going through a proper process to make sure we have the right requirements so we have the right capability, not only for our country but for how we relate to NORAD (North American Aerospace Defense Command) and our commitments to NATO,” says Sajjan, who assumed the role in November following a change of government … We’re going to do this in a responsible manner.” When news broke in June of this year that the Canadian government was focusing its attention on the Super Hornet, it was thought that the purchase of those F/A-18E/Fs would be classified as an “interim buy”, meaning that it would only temporarily replace the Legacy Hornet until a long-term solution could be discerned and bought, similar to what the Royal Australian Air Force had done with its own Hornet fleet. Now, instead of buying the Super Hornet, the Canadian Department of National Defence (DND) is moving to enact their previous plan by opening up that “transparent” competition between defense contractors like Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Dassault, Saab, and Airbus, in order to determine the best aircraft suited towards Canada’s needs going forward. This comes after Lockheed Martin warned the Canadian government that its failure to maintain its previous commitment to the F-35 could potentially result in a retraction of all contracts, and possibly even a very costly lawsuit against the government. It’s extremely possible that, in a competition with other manufacturers, the F-35 will actually come out on top, as it has in Korea, Denmark, and Japan, against fighter offerings from Boeing and Saab, which currently offer the most cost-effective 4.5 generation fighter aircraft on the market today outside of Russia. Sajjan noted that the RCAF, at the moment, suffers a large capability gap which hinders its ability to appropriately maintain its commitments to NATO and to NORAD, the joint American/Canadian air-defense alliance. When asked for a time frame on the matter of procuring new fighters to replace the CF-188, he stated: “It all depends on a lot of the information that we do collect, but it is going to be months, not years, definitely, because of the urgency for this”, which could potentially still point to the F-35 being unable to compete, as the A-model of the F-35, the variant Canada previously decided to procure, will not be fully operational and in mass production until next year. Boeing’s Super Hornet, the Dassault Rafale, and the Saab Gripen, are all in production at this point, and are within Canada’s presumed price range. The Eurofighter Typhoon could be precluded by virtue of its cost alone. The requirements for the new fighter will also be rewritten, as the current government believes that the initial operational requirements were drafted to favor only the F-35 above other possible replacement fighters. Given that Canadian fighters haven’t flown air-to-air operations since the Persian Gulf War (i.e. 1990), and that the vast majority of Canadian military operations over the past twenty years feature air-to-ground operations, the new requirements would necessarily favor an aircraft that is optimized towards flying such missions, but also capable of flying air-to-air, as the RCAF cannot afford a multi-fighter fleet like the US Air Force, or the Royal Air Force. However, the F-35 still fits the bill, as it is designed as a strike fighter from the ground up. The next few months will be pivotal in determining a proper course of action for the RCAF, though a replacement for the CF-188 could be shelved for the time being, given the costly overhaul the Royal Canadian Navy will be undertaking over the course of the next few years, with the retirement of combat vessels and the building of new frigates to supersede them.

The Guardian / July 24, 2016 UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson rebuked by British Liberal Democrat Tom Drake for blaming Munich shooting on terrorists. The lone radical Islamist gunmen opened fire in Munich on Friday evening, murdering 9 people and wounding 35. Drake urged the Foreign Secretary to avoid passing “politically sensitive judgments” on world events until he was in full possession of the facts after he allegedly prematurely blamed Islamist terrorists for the killings in Munich on Friday. Johnson made his remarks before the identity of the killer – an 18-year-old German citizen of Iranian descent who was obsessed with mass slaughter – had been known. (So in fact, the Foreign Secretary was spot on with his assessment) Speaking about the attack on Friday while in New York, Johnson told the press that that the “global sickness” of terrorism needed to be tackled at its source in the Middle East. “If, as seems very likely, this is another terrorist incident, then I think it proves once again that we have a global phenomenon and a global sickness that we have to tackle both at the source – in the areas where the cancer is being incubated in the Middle East – and also of course around the world.” He added: “We have to ask ourselves, what is going on? How is the switch being thrown in the minds of these people?”

Regarding the United States' NATO commitments, Trump was unapologetic, repeating that he intended to force allies to shoulder defense costs that the United States has borne for decades. "We have countries within NATO taking advantage of us. With me, I believe they are going to pay," said Trump, who previously warned assistance to allies would depend on whether they "have fulfilled their obligations to us." "Now, a country gets invaded. They haven't paid. Everyone said 'Oh, but we have a treaty'." "If they don't pay -- Chuck -- this isn't 40 years ago. This isn't 50 years ago. It's not 30 years ago. We're a different country today. "We have countries that aren't paying and this goes beyond NATO because we take care of Japan. We take care of Germany and South Korea and Saudi Arabia and we lose on everything. "We can no longer be the stupid country." .

The issue is, apart from Boeing, and Ford and GM, we don't have any leading industry left. Very little of what you purchase at the department store, home improvement store and so forth are made in America. The practicalities of food production require U.S. facilities, but an alarming number of food companies are foreign owned. It's up to your government to "manage" the success of U.S. industry. The Department of Justice, who in 1964 wouldn't allow Chrysler to acquire Mack, was only too glad in 1999-2000 to allow foreign aggressor Volvo to buy Mack Trucks. This isn't "rocket science". The takeover of U.S. industry by foreign aggressors was allowed by your government. And there's little doubt that various entities and individuals were compensated. Much, like NAFTA, was a Bilderberg Group recommendation (the Rockefellers of our time).

She's an awfully good dramatics actor. .

Trump hits a key nail on the head. Speaking of the U.S. Constitution, Trump spoke of how "everybody wants to be protected." Unlike Burger King, it is simply impossible for everybody to have it their way. When you give to one group, you take from another. That's just basic Math 101. But in the year 2016, everybody wants to come out on top with their agendas. .

BBC / July 24, 2016 A radical Islamist has detonated a bomb outside a bar in the southern German city of Ansbach, near Nuremberg around 10:00pm local time on Sunday. One person was been killed, and 12 others are wounded, 3 in critical condition. Police say the attacker, a 27-year-old rejected asylum seeker from Syria, detonated an explosive device in his backpack. Bavarian Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann said the suspected attacker had entered Germany two years ago and had his asylum claim rejected a year ago. The attacker had been given leave to stay temporarily given the situation in his home country and provided with an apartment in Ansbach. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- BBC / July 25, 2016 The Syrian radical Islamist who blew himself up in Ansbach, Germany, on Sunday made a video pledging allegiance to the leader ISIS, Bavarian authorities say. The man threatened a "revenge attack" on Germans in the video. Germany's federal prosecutor's office has taken on the case due to "the suspicion of membership of a foreign terrorist organization".

Associated Press / July 24, 2016 A 21-year-old Syrian asylum-seeker killed a pregnant 45-year-old Polish woman with a machete Sunday in the southwest German city of Reutlingen. The Syrian then attacked the occupants of a Citroen car in which a 51-year-old woman suffered cuts to her arms and a 41-year-old man went into shock. The attacker also slashed the face of a 23-year-old. A man driving a BMW ran over the attacker, knocking him to the ground. German media have been reporting that the motive for the attack in the city south of Stuttgart was unclear but the attacker and the 45-year-old Polish victim both worked at the same snack bar. Police are describing the incident as a “crime of passion” rather than a "terrorist attack". The attack occurred around 4:30 pm near the city’s main bus station at Listplatz Square. Reutlingen, population 100,000, is near Stuttgart. The attacker was "known to police". .

Yes, in later years, we did sell powered glider kits featuring Mack "reman" engines. But never a rolling glider kit......that amounts to being a complete truck. Though we of course offered reman carriers, we never offered a reman axle assembly with carrier......no demand. Mack documented the VIN of the original vehicle being glider kitted........that VIN could not be used twice.

At the former Mack Trucks, we requested the model and serial number of the subject truck being used in the construction of the glider kit, to ensure the glider kit was constructed so as to accommodate that truck's drivetrain, built with the same wiring harness (e.g. round versus square plug), ect. It was all quite professional and thorough.

To make a long story short, Volvo Group intentionally does NOT sell "glider kits" in the US market (or any global market). The "glider kit" is an American invention. Volvo does not subscribe to it, rather, they want you to buy a new truck.

Buy American? How is that possible? Our government allowed Sweden's Volvo buy American truckmaking icon Mack Trucks, the company who literally built our country, AND allowed Italy's Fiat to get Chrysler for nothing (the biggest American giveaway of our lifetime). --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - Germany’s Mann + Hummel now owns Affinia Group, producer of Wix, Napa and other brand filters - Germany's ZF has acquired TRW - Italy's Fiat owns Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep - China's Wanxiang has acquired over 20 U.S. businesses including U.S. government-funded battery maker A123, Dana’s coupled-products business, Neapco and D&R Technology. - Germany's Daimler acquired Freightliner, Western Star, Detroit Diesel and Thomas Built Buses - Sweden's Volvo acquired White, Autocar, GMC heavy truck and Mack Trucks - Germany’s Knorr-Bremse owns Bendix Commercial Vehicle Systems - Sweden’s Haldex acquired Anchorlok and the Neway suspension control valve business - Luxembourg-based SAF owns Neway air suspensions, and 5th wheel makers Holland and Simplex - Prestolite Electric, which includes the Leece-Neville brand, was acquired by Zhongshan, China-based Broad Ocean Motor Company and Beijing-based Ophoenix Capital. - Nexteer Automotive aka GM Global Steering Holdings LLC (formerly Delphi Steering and GM’s Saginaw Steering Division) was acquired by Chinese government-owned Pacific Century Motors - Germany’s Mahle acquired Delphi’s automotive air conditioning division, Delphi Thermal - Korea's Doosan owns Bobcat - Aircraft and industrial engine maker Teledyne Continental Motors was acquired by Chinese government aircraft maker AVIC - Canada's Bombardier acquired Learjet Corporation - Mexico's KUO Group acquired Borg-Warner and Spicer transmissions - Italy's Fiat thru subsidiary CNH Global owns Case-IH and New Holland - Sweden's Volvo acquired the road construction equipment division of Ingersoll Rand - Japan's Bridgestone owns Firestone and Bandag - France's Michelin owns Uniroyal and BF Goodrich - China’s Beijing West Industries acquired Delphi’s brake and suspension divisions - Netherlands-based Mittal Steel acquired (asset holder of Bethlehem Steel, LTV, Weirton Steel, Georgetown Steel and US Steel) - Mexico's Metalsa S.A. acquired 10 Dana plants that produce structural components for chassis and body structures in light and commercial vehicles - Germany's Siemens acquired Houston-based Dresser-Rand - China's Shuanghui owns Smithfield Foods - Belgium's InBev owns Anheuser-Busch - South African Breweries (SAB) acquired Miller Brewing - Germany's Merck KGaA acquired St. Louis-based drugmaker Sigma-Aldrich - Switzerland's Nestle owns Gerber baby foods and Purina - Sweden's Electrolux owns the Frigidaire, Kenmore and Tappan appliance brands - South Korea's LG owns Zenith - Netherlands-based Philips acquired Magnavox, Philco and Sylvania - China's Lenovo acquired IBM's personal computing division - Japan's Seven & I Holdings owns 7-Eleven - The UK's InterContinental Hotels Groups owns the Holiday Inn and Crowne Plaza hotel chains, and Candlewood Suites - China's Wanda Group owns the AMC cinema chain - The Venezuelan government owns Citgo - Mexico's Bimbo Group acquired Sara Lee's bakery business and the following brands: Arnold, Ball Park, Boboli, Brownberry, Cinnabon Bread, EarthGrains, Entenmann’s, Francisco, Freihofer’s, Marinela, Milton’s Bread, Mrs Bairds, Oroweat, Roman Meal, Sara Lee, Stroehmann, Sun-Maid Bread, Thomas’ and Tia Rosa. - The British-Dutch conglomerate Unilever owns Ben & Jerrys, Vaseline, Hellmann’s, Best Foods, Ponds, Good Humor and Breyers - Germany's Henkel owns Dial soap, Loctite, Orbseal and Bergquist - Germany's Bayer acquired Miles Laboratories and Cutter Laboratories (including Cutter insect repellent, Alka-Seltzer, One-A-Day, Flintstones vitamins and Bactine), and the consumer care business of Merck & Co. which included the brands Claritin (allergy), Coppertone (sun care), MiraLAX (gastrointestinals), Afrin (cold) and Dr. Scholl’s. - Bayer CropScience acquired biological company AgraQuest - Thailand’s Thai Union Frozen Products owns Chicken of the Sea and Orion Seafood International - South Korea’s Dongwon owns StarKist - The UK’s Lion Capital owns Bumble Bee Foods - Jim Beam was acquired by Japan’s Suntory in 2014 - Krispy Kreme has been acquired by Luxembourg-based JAB Holdings - Giant Carlisle (Martin's Food Markets, Ukrops), Stop & Shop and Giant-Landover supermarkets are owned by Dutch retailer Koninklijke Ahold N.V. - Food Lion and Hannaford supermarkets are owned by Belgium-based Delhaize Group - Colombia's Cementos Argos has acquired the cement and ready mix producing assets of Vulcan Materials and LaFarge - UK-based Tarmac PLC acquired the cement and ready mix producing assets of Stamford, Conn.-based Lone Star Industries (for many years the largest U.S. cement maker) - Two-wheeled electric people mover Segway has been acquired by China’s Ninebot - China’s HNA Group acquired Carlson Hotels Inc. (Radisson, Park Plaza, Country Inns)

I can't say what Volvo Group does when you call their "customer satisfaction" hotline at +1 (866) 298-6586. But Eaton, like Cummins, needs the business because the foreign aggressors are currently eating up their market share. So please do give Eaton a call. Ask how you can connect with the field engineer for your state. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain.