It introduces the chapter by asking how the UMC became so big; how humankind's activities in space were directed and policed by the UMC; how they came to be the sole bargaining agent and sole defence between humankind and the Amnion. How did they become responsible for the fate of the human race?
The answer is: economic muscle.
The rest of the chapter describes how this happened. It was a period of "political and economic" stagnation on Earth. I like how SRD touches on timeless issues in this passage:
And so, in apparent desperation, some commercial enterprises put up space stations primarily for research to see what resources were out there, and therefore restore the future of humankind. The result was to completely drain the resources and send Earth's economy into free fall.Without enough fossil fuels to make energy cheap (except in space, fusion generators were prohibitively expensive to build and maintain); without enough trees to recycle the atmosphere; without new raw materials to replace the old; without any adequate way to make productive use of garbage; or to dispose of it in a nonpolluting fashion; without frontiers or wars to provide the sense of excitement or urgency which inspired creative problem solving: Earth had become a seemingly endless list of things her people had to do without. The planet appeared to have outrun its own future.
Because of this, these enterprises became vitally important to Earth. It was a last ditched effort - they needed these conglomerates to succeed, and thus these conglomerates became very powerful. So, by the time the gap drive was discovered, SpaceLab Inc (the company that Juanita Estevez worked for) was so necessary that no government could take control of its products. SpaceLab Inc (which became Sagittarius Exploration) licensed the gap drive patents for a royalty, which made them supremely rich and powerful.
So when SagEx discovered a rich asteroid belt, they needed resources to be able to mine it. Enter Space Mines Inc, a fairly small ore-smelting enterprise. SagEx initially tried to absorb SMI, but eventually a partnership was formed instead. Their wealth increased exponentially through the SagEx belt. Since SMI were previously quite small, none of the Earth's governments had given it any support. This played to their advantage, because it meant that there were also no governmental restrictions. And with wealth comes muscle.
The final part to this story is that despite all this, Earth's growth was slow. Opportunities for wealth could only grow in proportion to the expansion of the species, which happened in the stations around Earth. Contact with the Amnion changed all this.Using that muscle with both vision and cunning, SMI soon became one of the primary players in the exploration and development of space.
SMI acquired Intertech, the research and development company that was trying to understand humankind's first encounter with an Amnioni mutagen. This research caused the Humanity Riots and left the company devastated. SMI realised the potential of acquiring Intertech, putting them in the unique position of being the only enterprise to be able to communicate and respond to the Amnion, and therefore pursue trade.
I like the way SRD makes logical steps that transform a small player into the powerful entity that is the United Mining Companies.Suddenly a door of vast opportunity opened, and SMI held the knob in one hand, the key in the other. Intertech owned everything humanity knew about the Amnion: SMI owned the ships and facilities needed to take advantage of that knowledge. And Earth had a nearly bottomless hunger for new resources - as well as new markets. Rather than risk failing to gain the benefits offered by the Amnion, Earth's governments rechartered Space Mines Inc. as the United Mining Companies and gave it the mission of developing Amnion trade for the sake of humankind.