Firms under foreign ownership see their profits and dividends flow overseas, their investment decisions taken to serve foreign interests, their assets stripped and risky long-term investments shut down to boost short-run profits and dividends; domestic investment in plant and machinery, in research and development, in skills training [...] are liable to be severely curtailed; we're flogging off of assets vital to our strategic national interest [...]; but, Lynn reassures us, the wave of takeovers that is likely in the months ahead ‘will keep the stock market buoyant’.