Posted on 08/07/2011 7:15:31 PM PDT by Steelfish
As U.S. Stumbles, Companies Invest In Consumer Growth Overseas Many begin to give up on the ailing American shopper and make plans to chase growing demand in Asia and Latin America.
Shoppers crowd a mall in Brazil, where a growing middle class with more money to spend is a strong incentive for U.S. companies to invest there instead of at home. (Adriano Machado,
By Don Lee
August 8, 2011 Reporting from Washington— Many major U.S. companies are making big plans to expand overseas even as some of them announce new layoffs at home, and there's a chilling reason why: They're beginning to give up on the American consumer as a source of future growth.
For years, U.S. companies went off shore to get cheaper labor and lower manufacturing costs for products to be sold to Americans. Now, as the nation's economy stalls and personal incomes stagnate, they see consumers in Asia and Latin America as offering brighter prospects for future sales and profits.
In effect, as many corporate executives look ahead, the United States has a diminishing place in their thinking.
The nation's tax laws reinforce the pattern. American companies have piled up mountains of profits overseas, but they must pay very high taxes if they bring the money home. So instead of investing back home, they are more apt to put the money into overseas expansion, adding jobs there.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
When our money’s worthless - and it costs $3,000 to buy a used iphone, how big a market will we really be? Factoring in a 23% unemployment rate....
“Many major U.S. companies are making big plans to expand overseas even as some of them announce new layoffs at home, and there’s a chilling reason why: They’re beginning to give up on the American consumer as a source of future growth. “...
didn’t Jefferey Immelt, presently one of obama’s economic advisers (i believe on the council for job development in the US) and CEO of GE- a huge corporation that owns MSNBC and huge corp that has paid no tax, just announce his company was moving their x-ray production division to china??? if it wasn’t so sad it would be funny...
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One
Big
A$$
Mistake
America
ObamAA+ and the Dems have declared war on the private sector, and even today were talking about raising taxes even further.
It kills me to say this, but under this regime, investing in America has become a bad business decision.
Oh come on. A foreign made I Phone may cost $3000 but an American made on would cost $600, about what it costs no.
The US still has the strongest, most diverse economy in the world, as well as the natural resources and energy reserves to tell the rest of the take a hike.
I’ll try to act surprised when they give money and support to the Obama campaign in 2012.....
Fat lotta good, when our government makes it illegal to tap them.
If we’re NOT the world’s reserve currency our money will become worthless... and quickly. China’s moving us in that direction...
US corporations are holding at least $1T overseas. It makes sense for them to invest it overseas instead of repatriating the money and paying exorbitant corporate taxes. Also, they have to deal with Obamacare....
Just more spin from the LA Times.
Won’t be any American made ones. Envirowackos and unions closed down almost all the electronics plants years ago.
TI’s a lone exception, but even they’re having to move operations overseas as the EPA jumps on them.
Obama’s doing a great job! Of destroying America.
rdcbn, you are more correct than you think. Unleashed, the US has more potential than any other country. However, over the years we have regulated and legislated ourselves into impotence. We have become a sissy nation where any problem becomes a crisis, where we have an obesity crisis in the morning and a hunger and malnutrition crisis in the afternoon, where the greatest scam ever - global warming - has our most productive assets locked up tight. We don’t look for problem solvers anymore, we look for victims to reward with government handouts.
No Shit!!
If history is any indication, we’re witnessing the defacto nationalization of companies through regulation and taxation.
No surprise at all. No one in their right mind is going to invest in U.S. economic growth as long as Marxists are in charge of the economy.
It makes no sense to take additional risks to try to increase profits if those profits are going to be stolen by Obama and “redistributed”, whether such redistribution occurs via Obamacare, increased taxes, increased regulation, deliberately increased increasing energy prices, deliberate destruction of the currency via insane inflationary policies, or deliberate destruction of the Constitution by ignoring it.
Not only that, unless Obama’s successor abolishes every one of his job killing measures, including all regulations he promulgate and Obamacare, there’s not hope at all that any of these jobs will ever come back. In fact, even if everything Obama did is undone, it’s unlikely the lost jobs will come back anyway. Jobs moved offshore will never come back. Jobs replaced by increased automation will never come back. And jobs lost due to firing people and forcing the remaining workers to pick up the slack are unlikely to come back.
There’s a very good chance that Obama has succeeded in permanently destroying robust U.S. economic growth and job creation.
When we can no longer borrow 42 cents of every dollar the federal Government spends we will not be able to
Pay generous welfare benefits
Pay for food stamps
Pay for section 8 Housing
Pay generous unemployment benefits for 99 + weeks
Pay bogus disability payments via workers comp and Social Security
Pay 70% of illegal aliens welfare, medical care and for the birth of anchor babies.
At this point it will be get a job or go hungry.
Americans will have a bit of a different attitude at that point.
The Dollar exchange rates will be such that imported goods will very expensive which will allow American manufacturing to be competitive again.
Energy prices will be so high America will be forced to develop it's domestic reserves.
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