Posted on 03/08/2006 4:26:10 PM PST by carl in alaska
OK, I'll make this a short, readable, "vanity" editorial because I know you're all busy. Here's my idea for a good solution to the UAE ports deal that should be a winner for the White House:
I don't think partnering with an American company is going far enough to keep the GOP base happy. The UAE needs to do a spin-off of the American port operations into a new company, probably a limited partnership (LP). Then bring a British executive over from P&O Ports to be CEO and bring in somebody like Peter Ueberroth or Billy Payne to be Chairman of the Board. Fill the Board of Directors with a bunch of well-known folks who are perceived as strong on national security--people like Gen. Tommy Franks, Frank Gaffney, Gen. H. Norman Schwartzkopf, Sam Nunn, and William Cohen. Get some expert advisors like Goldman Sachs to market the spin-off and price it to yield about a 6% dividend. At this time, people love those high-dividend LP's and REITs.
Finally, to make sure everbody walks away feeling like a winner in this deal, sell 80% of the stock to Americans as an IPO with a maximum purchase of 1000 shares per individual, and limit foreign ownership to 20% total and only 10% for citizens of any one country. So then the UAE can buy 10% of the US Ports LP and feel like they weren't totally snubbed. The political cost of this deal as it stands today is far too high. The UAE needs to spin off the US ports into an LP and sell the lion's share of stock to Americans. The sooner the White House pushes to make that happen, the better off the administration will be.
You forgot a big sloppy kiss to the Unions. That's a big part of this too.
Yep, we sure need the Congress to step in and micromanage MORE of the Private Sector! I mean, look at what a GREAT job they do managing their current duties on things like BALANCING THE BUDGET. Yep we sure need to give Congress more to do!!!
Whatever it takes to make a spin-off happen. We're getting hammered politically by this Dubai ports deal as it is structured today.
No, the spin-off shouldn't be mandated by the federal government. It should be a proposal by the UAE that is part of their acquisition of P&O Ports. This kind of deal happens all the time where a company is acquired and part of it is spun off at the same time.
Why are there no American companies willing to take this on? I'm really curious about this.
Have these operations always been under foreign control? When and why did they get transferred to foreign hands?
I agree that the PR has stunk on this, but I don't think anything short of nationalizing the entire industry will ever placate the Liberals.
Or the Republicans who are having to field the calls from their mis- and un-informed constituents in an election year.
I'm just starting to take a detailed look at port operations. It looks like there are several companies that run different parts of shipping operations at various ports. Some of them are American companies. P&O Ports is a British company based in London, so most of the managers who would initially run these ports would be British or American, even under UAE ownership. The problem is the public fears the UAE will gradually move there own citizens and other middle eastern people into management roles, which could ultimately compromise security at the ports.
Oh and Hillary too.
I want to congratulate the Dems for playing the weak Republicans among us like a fiddle.
And our politicians seem anxious to shut down any real, public discussion of port security.
I know that
You know that
I'm really surprised at the reaction of a lot of FReepers. The politicians don't surprise me.
That was the first red flag to the whole deal. Schumer, Hillary and Menendez out front on this. The stench of Union grease was all over this from the git-go.
But its a whole lot easier to just run with the stampede than to actually pull off to the side, look back and see what the hubbub was actually all about.
Apparently the UAE just decided to divest all the US port assets from P&O Ports. I feel prophetic today.
Good job.
Thanks for saying "good job." I'm really not that influential, but I get the impression sometimes that there are people in Washington who read FR and take us seriously.
Then fill the Board of Directors with a group of former pentagon people like Tommy Franks and Norman Schartzkopft and hawkish legislators like Sam Nunn and Newt Gingrich. The new company could create some great photo ops with Franks, Schwartzkopft, and Nunn at the ports reviewing security operations with Ueberroth or Payne. This could turn into a big win if handled correctly. It's no piece of cake starting up a new business, of course. Ueberroth would be my pick for the man to manage the start-up process. He's a management genius, and so is Billy Payne. One of those men or somebody else with a strong corporate management background would be ideal...maybe Jack Welch the former General Electric CEO. He could do this job part time, as smart as he is. Let the British CEO and COO run the company while he works on high-level strategy only.
You earned a smiley face for the fridge.
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