How much should we trust power?
Most would say we should be very careful about trusting power. Then, they would trust the power they like. Liberals tend to be trusting of government. Conservatives tend to trust markets and corporations.
Or at least that’s how it used to be. The old order is falling apart. Government, at least at the federal level, is being dissolved in acid. Meanwhile, corporations are preparing for a world in which they have much more power. Along the way, the words liberal and conservative are going to have much less meaning than before.
It’s all about power. History has a word for this type of system, but it upsets people.
It is in this cheerful spirit that I wonder aloud why we are so trusting of enormous companies that want to buy up smaller companies. It’s not that we can, or should, stop this from ever happening. It’s only that I see no reason to be in a hurry to do so.
At least one administrative law judge made a similar observation in the ongoing bid by a group of powerful investors to acquire Allete, the parent company of Minnesota Power. We know that investments often bring capital for improvements. That was the story when Nippon just bought U.S. Steel. But equity firms are a different beast. We know that right?
Maybe we don’t.
Read “Is Allete sale in the public interest? A judge is skeptical,” in the Saturday, July 19, 2025 edition of the Minnesota Star Tribune.
Aaron J. Brown is a columnist and member of the editorial board for the Minnesota Star Tribune. His new book about Hibbing Mayor Victor Power and his momentous fight against the world’s largest corporation will be out soon.
