I know this probably comes as no shock to most and it didn't really shock me either, but it's unnerving how many of the brands we use on a daily basis are owned by a handful of companies.  This all started when a few weeks ago Obama made a comment that he would have a beer with a Harvard professor and a Cambridge police chief.  At what is now being termed the beer summit Obama apparently was going to have a Bud Light and the professor a Blue Moon.  It then came out that apparently the White House only stocks "American" beers, which lead me to find out that Bud, Miller, and Coors (all supposed all-American beers) are all owned by large foreign companies.  More investigation leads me to conclude that a large majority of the products an average American uses/consumes on a daily basis come from one of the following companies: Proctor and Gamble, InBev, Nestle, Kraft, Coca Cola, and Unilever.  That's six companies that control over 1000 different brands ranging from Tide to Oreos, Fruitopia to Pringles, and Dove to Stella Artois. 

As people (at least in the Bay) are trying to eat more locally this is very scary to me.  It shows how difficult it is to truly know who you are giving your money to.  It's obviously easiest to control who you purchase from with produce, but with other products it becomes harder and harder.  I definitely feel that going forward I will take a harder look at the brands I purchase and be more aware of who they are really owned by.