Well done sir, well done indeed.
Senator Richard Shelby, Republican chairman of the US Senate Banking
Committee, has proposed legislation that seeks to strengthen rules
governing foreign investments in the US. Reforming the rules governing
the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) has
become a priority in America since the uproar over plans by Dubai Ports
World, a company controlled by the Government of Dubai, to acquire
Britain’s P&O ports operations and take control of a number of
American port facilities.
Senator Shelby’s proposals would expand the scope of CFIUS to give it
powers to investigate any deal or major investment by a foreign company
or government in the United States that it sees fit.
So you’re taking a piece of protectionist hysteria, whipped up by idiot xenophobes and economic know-nothings, using it to extend politicians’ power (and thus opportunities for grateful and ungrateful supplicants alike to show their appreciation to your re-election fund) and in the meantime increase the likelihood of a hard landing for the US economy?
Well done sir, well done indeed.
Sigh. So you’re going to make it harder and more expensive for foreigners to invest in the USA? For them to buy real assets, for that foreign direct investment that does so much to raise the living standards of American workers? And also, not co-incidentally, this money funds the trade deficit. That $900 billion odd a year deficit is, as a matter of accounting identity, balanced by the amount that foreigners invest in the US. Make it more difficult for them to buy real assets and they’ll simply buy financial ones, like bonds.
This is really what you want? More foreigners buying more bonds that they can dump the moment they start to feel panicky? Thus increasing the possibility of a hard landing, the dollar dropping through the floor, interest rates screaming up?
Sheesh.
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