Posted on 03/10/2006 12:33:17 PM PST by groanup
REVIEW & OUTLOOK
The New Protectionists - How to create a real security crisis.
Friday, March 10, 2006 12:01 a.m. EST
Dubai Ports World finally threw in the kaffiyah on its American operations yesterday, agreeing to sell them "to a U.S. entity." We hope that entity turns out to be Halliburton, if only for the torment that would cause certain eminences on Capitol Hill.
Dubai Ports was susceptible to this political stampede because it was an Arab-owned company buying port operations, which Democrats have played up as uniquely vulnerable. But this is also the second such mugging of a foreign investor in recent months, following last year's demagoguery against a Chinese company's bid to buy Unocal, a middling American oil company. If Members of Congress want a real security crisis--a financial security crisis--they'll keep this up.
What's especially dangerous here is that we're seeing the re-emergence of the "national security" protectionists. They were last seen in the late 1980s, when Japan in particular was the target of a political foreign-investment panic. The Japanese were buying Pebble Beach and Rockefeller Center, and so America was soon going to be a colony of Tokyo. A Japanese bid for Fairchild Semiconductor of Silicon Valley was seen as a threat to American defense. Those fears seem laughable now. But here we go again, with new targets of anxiety.
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(Excerpt) Read more at opinionjournal.com ...
Man you really have a twisted logic, don't you?!
Nah, you can trade with us on our terms, when we say, how we say and you can't have any ownership of any of our assets. Ain't freedom great? Aren't you glad you're our free trading partners?
So how many of you trust George Bush on fighting terror?
What's that?
crickets
give up trying to argue this issue over parsing of words - "buying", "operating", "ports", "terminals" - we all know the details.
SOME commerce is off limits. 95% is available to them.
what we should be asking ourselves is, why do they want these specific things? why do they want to buy a company that produces turbines for military engines? why not buy a casino instead, or a soft drink company, or a department store chain.
enquiring minds want to know.
no, in fact your scenario is ridiculous. the idea of using a ports operation company to facilitate shipment of a single device into a major US city, is not.
The question now, is why? Why is it so important to you that people believe the UAE was trying to "buy" the ports when you know (because you've been told repeatedly) it is not true?
here is my original post:
"
concerns over infrastructure and defense related entities - are real.
if the UAE had wanted to buy Applebees, would anyone have cared? no. they own alot of manhattan real estate, did anyone complain? no. if they want to buy a casino, do we care? no.
the arguments about this being "protectionism", are laughable.
"
where do I say anything about them "buying the ports". I am simply pointing out that they could spend their money in plenty of other places. let's say they want to "buy a contract to operate Applebees", if that makes you happy.
Why? Why did the NASDAQ bid for the London Stock Exchange today? Why did Merril Lynch sell its money management business? Beeeeecaaaauuusse..., it was a business decision.
You say that 95% of American commerce is available to them. How do you know that? What does that mean? Can they buy 95% of Haliburton? Or Lockheed? General Dynamics?
You say: "why not buy a soft drink company?" Okay. Which one? Which one will give them a better return on their 6 billion than the ports deal? Which department store chain will give them a better return?
You seem to think that they sat around an oil rig and discussed which American company they should buy. Business decisions are so far removed from your implications that I hesitate to engage you for fear that I might be caught up in 5th grade economics.
Do you honestly think that investors are going to part with 6 billion dollars on a whim?
Hey, oceanview thinks we should buy a chain of restaurants. Okay, let's do it. Please.
Yeah. They could "spend" their money on Las Vegas slot machines.
Jeez. Do you have any idea how much research went into a 6 billion dollar deal? No, you don't have a clue. You seem to think that the UAE can just as well buy a few MacDonalds franchises.
they want to invest money. McDonalds makes plenty of profits. So do the casinos. So does Applebees. suddenly, only ports and companies that make defense components are profitable, and therefore worthy of investment by the UAE? give me a break.
if you are so wise, tell us why they want to buy a US company that makes turbines for military engines? what interest could they possibly have in that?
You say "suddenly" as if this was an ambush by UAE to invoke terror attacks. I think if you'll do a little research you'll find out that UAE planes land in the US all day every day. Why wouldn't they just use one of them and send it into the Sears Tower? Or use it to drop a bomb on its approach to O'Hare?
Seems to me that to spend 6 billion dollars to effect a terror attack would be quite wasteful if one already had air power.
I found out the most interesting little fact. The USTR reports that the U.S. enjoyed a 3 billion dollar trade surplus with the U.A.E. in 2004.
again you are missing the point.
there are plenty of other profitable US industries in which they could invest, or purchase outright, across a wide range of industries. and for 95% of those, no questions regarding the purchase would be asked.
why do they want to buy a company that makes engine parts for the military? answer the question - WHY! That's what CFIUS is supposed to be asking, instead of being some beauracratic rubber stamp.
I'm so tired of that line of argument. If you want to live at the 1950 standard-of-living level, you can do it on one income today. Knock yourself out.
there are plenty of other profitable US industries in which they could invest, or purchase outright, across a wide range of industries. and for 95% of those, no questions regarding the purchase would be asked.
No, my dear (I think you are female, I could be wrong, if so, so sorry). Why do you have this THING that the UAE was looking for an investment in the USA? Let me clue you in. They were looking for the best bang for their buck. If the company that is doing the deal has a lot of infrastructure and expertise in port management it would naturally look for a similar company to acquire.
What do you think a billion dollars does? It looks for investments. It looks for good investments. That is all that is at work here. But NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!
We have told the Arab states that their oil is good enough for us to buy but their money is not good enough to invest in our country.
Let me tell you something. We are going to pay a sad and deep price for this stupidity. We were winning the war and the philosophical argument, especially with the Iraqis. But now we have people like you and a lot of others on this thread who are missing the point big time and have won the argument. The deal is dead.
So now we have to explain to these countries that we are trying to convert to freedom that we will not trade with them. What is freedom if it isn't the ability to conduct commerce to make money? To tell them that we want them to be a free republican government but that we won't be a party to their wealth creation is absolutely and unequivocably the STUPIDIST thing I have ever witnessed on Free Republic. You are an abettor in a crime.
I would rather be labeled a "National Defense Protectionist" than a Globalist!
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