Foreign investors have more control over the US economy than Americans

[lovuian]

http://english.pravda.ru/business/finance/23-07-2007/95118-foreign_investors_us_economy-0


America’s leading public finance watchdog has sounded a warning that the US economy is vulnerable to hostile financial actions by nations that are not its “allies”.


Foreign investors have more control over the US economy than Americans



David Walker, the US comptroller general, indicated that the huge holdings of American government debt by countries such as China, Saudi Arabia and Libya could leave a powerful financial weapon in the hands of countries that may be hostile to US corporate and diplomatic interests.

Mr Walker told The Times that foreign investors have more control over the US economy than Americans, leaving the country in a state that was “financially imprudent”
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I totally agree with this one

[TreasonousBastard]

1. So, umm, what's the problem, really...

it's always set in terms of conflict, as if buying up our assets is such a terrible thing and "they" are out to get us. We bitched the last time the Saudis trie to "buy" us and the ended up losing their shirts. Same with the Japanese. Nobody noticed when the Dutch, Brits, French, and Canadians bought half the country-- could it be they were the right color?

Ends up with us owning a lot of them, and they own a lot of us, and no one can put a finger on who's hurt by all of this. Why should we assume that the Saudis, or anyone else, hates us so much that they will destroy their investment just to do us dirt? More'n likely they will hunt down those who would do us dirt to protect their investment.

[lvx35]

3. Its bad becaues the owners of that property are in no way accountable to us.

They are not bound by our laws, they needn't fear from our elected officials, etc. This weakens the people and favors a global financial elite.

[TreasonousBastard]

8. On balance, it can strengthen us, too...

since we are not the greatest at everything.

Instantaneous capital flow is a fact and won't go away any time soon. Our current account deficit is abyssmal, but that's our fault not the external creditors'. Barring a massive financial catastrophe, there's really little anyone can do to significantly affect our economy without our assistance. And most of the entities that could have some effect, have no interest in killing their goose with the golden eggs.

Anyway, selling underused and undervalued assets to foriegners allows us access to more capital and often as not lets them be used more effectively. Our own Wall Street is insisting on ridiculous growth and profit numbers as measures of managerial success while few foreigners think that way.

[kenny blankenship]

10. Goodbye national sovereignty, goodbye union collective bargaining for wages

You have meddled with the primal forces of nature, Mr. Beale, and I won't have it!! Is that clear?! You think you've merely stopped a business deal. That is not the case. The Arabs have taken billions of dollars out of this country, and now they must put it back! It is ebb and flow, tidal gravity! It is ecological balance!

You are an old man who thinks in terms of nations and peoples. There are no nations. There are no peoples. There are no Russians. There are no Arabs. There are no third worlds. There is no West. There is only one holistic system of systems, one vast and immane, interwoven, interacting, multivariate, multi-national dominion of dollars. Petro-dollars, electro-dollars, multi-dollars, Reichmarks, rins, rubles, pounds, and shekels.

It is the international system of currency which determines the totality of life on this planet. That is the natural order of things today. That is the atomic and subatomic and galactic structure of things today! And YOU have meddled with the primal forces of nature, and YOU WILL ATONE!

Am I getting through to you, Mr. Beale?

[TreasonousBastard]

11. What the hell has...

national sovereignty done for us anyway?

And Alabama, Tennessee and those other fuckers with their right-to-work laws already did more to kill collective bargaining than all the Arabs in the whole world could.

And it's not Arabs, or even Chinese, shooting at European unions-- it's us trying to squeeze out the competition.

[lvx35]

14. Chompsky had some interesting comments on this.

Its been a while since I read it, but his arguments were that a strong nation state keeps control over the market, and thus the US interest in places like Argentina has been to push for free markets and weak nation states. This is what brought down Argentina, if I remember Chompsky's argument. So the fear with me is that these "chickens have come home to roost", and the US nation state is being weakened in ways that could lead us to an Argentina style collapse, if we don't get our trade deficit dealt with.

[A HERETIC I AM]

12. They don't own "Property". They own Bonds. Totally different

It is not necessarily a bad thing that foreign governemts see US Treasuries as a safe investment. Whether or not they are "Bound by our laws" is immaterial. They are bound by the rules of finance and they will get their interest payments on time and in full. THAT is what is important.

[terisan]

2. The Saudis-from whence came most of the 9/11 attackers and some of the

money that supported them.

[madrchsod]

4. the latest figures on debt

http://www.treas.gov/tic/mfh.txt
mfh.txt

50% of the rest of the government debt is held by the citizens of the usa

[JCMach1]

5. can we say- RUPERT MURDOCH

He is by far the single biggest threat to American democracy at the moment...

[lovuian]

13. He is the evil one

thats for sure

[Lasher]

6. We should be concerned about sustainability of external debt in addition to this vulnerability

http://www.intelligentguess.com/blog/2007/04/09/usa-manner-in-which-the-deficit-has-been-financed-since-1995-savings-viz-external-debt/


http://zfacts.com/p/318.html

[aquart]

7. Sell it all. Then nationalize. It's pure profit.

[mmonk]

9. And policy as well.

See the person in my sig line?