Reply #339: Here is an article dated 9/9/2008 stating that Niedersachsen in Germany [View All]

[JDPriestly]

has a 20% veto right in Volkswagen.

http://www.focus.de/finanzen/boerse/aktien/vw-gesetz-eu-gericht-knoepft-sich-bundesregierung-vor_aid_332081.html

Here is an article describing an oil deal between Venezuela and India's government owned oil company ONGC Videsh Limited.

http://www.cgifrankfurt.de/cgiweb/newsletter/2008/pdf/Wirtschaftsnachrichten%20April%2008.pdf

Here is another example of a company owned by the Indian government: Shipping Corporation of India. (The key German word is Staatsbesitz.)

Abgesehen von traditionellen Akteuren, wie ABG Shipyard Limited, haben auch andere, wie Bharati Shipyard, Larsen & Toubro, Sea King Infrastructure, Mundra Mercator Lines, Apeejay Shipping Pawan Kumar Ruia Group, Dolphin Offshore, ebenso wie die sich in Staatsbesitz befindlichen Shipping Corporation of India, Pläne für den Eintritt sowohl in den Schifffahrt- als auch in Schiffbaumarkt.

Oh, and Saudi Arabia's Aramco is owned by the Saudi government:

http://www.stern.de/wirtschaft/unternehmen/unternehmen/:Unternehmen-Saudis-Konzern/578653.html

The French government does not have a majority stock holding in Renault any more, but it still is a big shareholder in that company:

The government of France owns 15.7 per cent of the company. Louis Schweitzer has been the Chairman of Renault since 1992 and was CEO from 1992 to 2005. In 2005, Carlos Ghosn (also CEO of Nissan) became Renault's CEO, with Louis Schweitzer staying on as Chairman.

Renault owns Samsung Motors (Renault Samsung Motors) and Dacia, as well as retaining a minority (but controlling) stake (20%) in the Volvo Group. (Volvo passenger cars are now a subsidiary of the Ford Motor Company). Renault bought 99% of the Romanian company Dacia, thus returning after 30 years, in which time the Romanians built over 2 million cars, which primarily consisted of the Renault 8, 12 and 20.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renault#Possible_Industry_Realignment_.282008.29

The French government also holds shares in EADS, the European Aeronautic, Defence and Space Company.

http://www.eads.com/1024/en/investor/Stock_information/Shareholding_structure.html

EADS helps to make the Airbus

http://www.airbus.com/en/

Many of the French energy companies are state-owned (as are some of ours). Here in Los Angeles, the Department of Water & Power (DWP) is a publicly owned utility that provides our water and electricity. It's great. We love it. Some other areas have privately owned utilities, and frankly, I prefer the DWP.

So, a mixture of privately owned and government owned (or government supported) businesses still works very well. But, generally, Americans prefer to have as little government involvement in business as possible. That's our tradition. Whereas European countries, especially Austria, Germany and France have a different tradition. Even in Imperial Austria, many businesses although in one sense privately run, enjoyed special recognition from the Kaiser and that allowed them to do business in certain areas. It wasn't the equivalent of incorporation which is pretty automatic in the U.S. provided certain laws are obsered.