The following editorial appeared recently in the Everett, Wash., Herald.

That the economy is global is now a given. Multinational corporations hold all the cards. All of them. But what’s considered business as usual these days can still cause some business Luddites to shake their heads, and vigorously. Such as the news that the giant chocolate maker Nestle is purchasing Jenny Craig Inc., the weight loss product maker, for $600 million.

If we were living in the novel “1984,” such an unlikely candy and weight loss combo would naturally fall under the Ministry of Plenty, which is responsible for rationing and controlling food and goods. But we’re living in 2006, Good ‘N’ Plenty times, and having both businesses under one umbrella makes perfect sense. Here in America, plenty of people like to buy a big chocolate chip cookie and a diet soda to go with it, after all.

And everywhere, people like to hedge their bets. If a company succeeds in selling lots of chocolate, it can reason that eventually, people will want to lose weight. The consumer products company, Unilever, unveiled the philosophy in 2000 when it bought Ben & Jerry’s ice cream and Slim Fast. (Nestle owns 90 percent of Dreyer’s ice cream.)

Nestle, the world’s biggest food and drink company, also recently purchased Uncle Tobys, an Australian maker of nutritional cereals and snacks. The acquisition is part of the company’s “continuing commitment to nutrition, health and wellness,” Nestle said. It is also part of the company’s continuing commitment to making money. Nothing wrong with that, but apparently corporations can’t admit that profits, not nutrition, are the driving force behind any decision. If pork rinds suddenly take the world by storm, Nestle will be there. Nothing wrong with that. They’ll also be the first to sell the nutritious and delicious organic pork-rind antidote. Nestle, by the way, already makes Lean Cuisine products.

The cover-your-bases business philosophy has plenty of potential. Other prospective moves include:

“ McDonald’s purchases Pfizer, the maker of Lipitor, the cholesterol-lowering drug. Or Pfizer buys McDonald’s. Or Nestle buys both.

“ A group of bloggers get together and buy a newspaper.

“ Apple, maker of the iPod, purchases the world’s largest hearing aid company.

“ Starbucks invests in sleeping pills.

“ Anheuser-Busch buys the Betty Ford clinic.

“ Plain-speaking people buy CEOs a dictionary, so they won’t sound like this: “We are excited to be partnering with Nestle Nutrition and believe Jenny Craig will fit nicely into, and in fact complement, their portfolio of branded nutritional products and services,” said Patti Larchet, Jenny Craig CEO. And minister of plenty.