Who Owns US?
By Restless
In a recent der Spieglel article, Gabor Steingart breaks out the components of our (the U.S.’s) dilemma. First, there are 3 unique characteristics of our national character:
| Pro | Con | |
| Optimism & daring | Nowhere in the world as high; dating back to the birth of our nation. | Optimism to the point of naiveté as many citizen’s financial condition worsens |
| Radically global | Dominant world culture & language; Adventurous in business, setting up all over the world | Local (U.S.) industry is being eroded; globalization strikes back. |
| Dollar is the world’s currency | Guarantees maximum degree of national independence; all decisions re the dollar are made inside the U.S. | Makes the currency vulnerable, subject to dependence on foreign nations (China, Japan); could be brought to the point of collapse from outside. |
Our economy has been bleeding for some years now. And this outstanding piece details exactly why this is. Another excerpt:
Things were going swimmingly for the Americans until the end of the 1970s, the commission [created in 1998 by Congress] concluded. Family incomes grew virtually at the same rate in all sections of the population during the first three decades after World War II, with those of the poor growing slightly faster. The lowest fifth of US society saw a 120 percent increase in incomes, the second fifth 101 percent, the third 107 percent, the fourth 114 percent and the fifth 94 percent. It was as if the American dream had manifested itself in statistics.
But then the trend reversed, and not just in the United States. Japan had awakened, and global trade had shifted directions. Capitalists left their home turf and went looking for suitable locations to invest in. Direct investment abroad - which had been more or less in harmony with exports until then - rose dramatically.
Until then, investment abroad had served mainly to boost the export of German, US or French products. But then factories themselves began to be relocated, mainly to cut manufacturing costs. Production for the world market became increasingly global itself, which led to a redistribution of capital and labor. Global production increased by a solid 100 percent between 1985 and 1995. But direct investment abroad increased by 400 percent during the same time period. Capital’s new mobility began to make the other factor of production, labor, restless, too.
What’s left to sell to those holding dollars outside our borders? Among other things, ownership of our businesses and industries. The following table is now 4 years old ( featured on democtraticwings) and the data comes from IRS - Foreign ownership refers to ownership of assets of a particular industry by foreign controlled domestic U.S. Corporations (FDC) 50% or more owned by a foreign entity. Could any of this be a good thing?
| Table comes from economyincrisis.org. | ||
| INDUSTRY |
PERCENTAGE FOREIGN OWNED |
|
| Commodity contracts dealing and brokerage |
79% |
|
| Motion picture and sound recording industries |
75% |
|
| Metal ore mining |
65% |
|
|
|
||
| Wineries and distilleries |
64% |
|
| Database, directory, and other publishers |
63% |
|
| Book publishers |
63% |
|
| Cement, concrete, lime, and gypsum product |
62% |
|
| Engine, turbine and power transmission equipment |
57% |
|
|
|
||
| Rubber product |
53% |
|
| Nonmetallic mineral product manufacturing |
53% |
|
| Plastics and rubber products manufacturing |
52% |
|
| Plastics product |
51% |
|
|
|
||
| Coal mining |
48% |
|
| Sugar and confectionery product |
48% |
|
|
|
||
| Pharmaceutical and medicine |
40% |
|
| Securities brokerage |
38% |
|
|
|
||
mark — On 1-7-2007 at 10:47 pm
how do we stop it ,what will happen when 20 different nations own the u.s. i mean it’s obvious that america’s glory days areover but what will happen when america isn’t here anymore
restless — On 1-8-2007 at 9:39 am
mark, there are so many books and articles on reversing this trend. This is not just an American trend, but also is being felt in Western Europe, though maybe not to the same extent.
Some suggestions:
-A conservative fiscal program to pay for our expenditures. Meaning the tax cuts for the rich have to be reversed. A cut in the bloated defense budget. Oversight on all the contracts awarded via “no-bid” system of the Cheney Administration. Real money put into projects here at home to make our people competitive and prosperous.
-Re-negotiating all free trade treaties currently extant to prevent devastating job losses overseas. I’m not sure how this could be done. It’s not so much about protectionism. It’s how do we stay competitive here in the things we do, but it’s also curtailing severe abuses to workers abroad.
But even if say the Chinese are forbidden from using prison labor, they are still able to do the same thing there for a fraction of what a worker can do it for here.
The free-trade promise is supposed to be we Americans will move on to advanced jobs that pay a living wage while the stoop labor and rote work jobs are shipped off-shore. But there aren’t really any advanced jobs magically appearing and lately even jobs considered to be advanced (programming, lab work, attorney work and many more) are being off-shored.
I’m sure there will be more ideas on how to turn this around in the future.
Paul — On 1-31-2007 at 7:02 pm
I get it. America is going down the tubes and the foreigners have bought all the companies because they like to lose money by buying American companies that are going out of business.
This is why hundreds of thousands of people smuggle themselves into America, so that they too can live ever worse lives. Also, if allowed, millions would join them every year.
Right. Check.
Not to mention the estimated 29 trillion dollars just the NYSE is capitalized at.
These people are idiots too.
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