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Back in the 60s, one of the worst sins you could accuse someone of was "selling out." To Jim Morrison, to sell out was to "trade in your hours for a handful of dimes" — abandon your free lifestyle, retreat to a 9-to-5 job, and generally become a credit-card-carrying member of the "establishment."

We don't hear the term much anymore now that most everybody from that generation sold out long ago.

But these days, Americans are selling out on a grand scale. We're not just selling out personally. We're selling out the entire country.

Common Dreams has a great post today about multinational corporations buying more and more of America. It's not just a matter of pride. Profits that American businesses once put back into the American economy are now being outsourced to foreign countries, just like many of our jobs:

Foreign companies are buying up our water systems, our power generating systems, our mines, and our few remaining factories. All because "flat world" so-called "free trade" policies have turned us from a nation of wealthy producers into a nation of indebted consumers, leaving the world awash in dollars that are most easily used to buy off big chunks of America.

The post includes a long list of US government statistics showing the percentages of foreign ownership of American industries. Here are the industries where foreign ownership is 50% or more:

• Sound recording industries - 97%

• Commodity contracts dealing and brokerage - 79%

• Motion picture and sound recording industries - 75%

• Metal ore mining - 65%

• Motion picture and video industries - 64%

• Wineries and distilleries - 64%

• Database, directory, and other publishers - 63%

• Book publishers - 63%

• Cement, concrete, lime, and gypsum product - 62%

• Engine, turbine and power transmission equipment - 57%

• Rubber product - 53%

• Nonmetallic mineral product manufacturing - 53%

• Plastics and rubber products manufacturing - 52%

• Plastics product - 51%

• Other insurance related activities - 51%

• Boiler, tank, and shipping container - 50%

Is this just the logical extension of the free enterprise system on a global scale, beneficial to us all? Or is it the shameless selling of America, for the enrichment of a few?

Cross-posted today at Blognonymous