[harpseal]

ping

On or off this list let me know

[the gillman@blacklagoon.com]

Since the beginning of this mad rush to China I have argued that when they had what they needed, they would simply nationalize the industries and come after us.

Without removing pretty much our entire beauracracy from power immediately, and starting over, there doesn't seem like much can be done. The present structure is made up almost entirely of traitors and/or idiots.

Siezing the foreign companies within China is a great boost for them. Siezing those companies at the same time as bankrupting their number one enemy is just wonderful - for them.

[dennisw]

OPIC is the gun to the head of the Feds to play kissy face with POS foreign nations. Such as China. (I have nothing against the Ch. people in the abstract). OPIC is a part of the reason we played footsie with ChiComs when they forced down our intel gathering airplane 2 years ago.

No one knows about OPIC and the Feds and transnational corporate traitors love it this way. No one will ever want to rock the boat with China and Mexico and make large, outrageous, embarrassing OPIC payouts necessary. The American public would be very angry that their job losses are subsidized by the supping_at__the_public_trough crowd in DC.

[A. Pole]

So what we are facing is some combination of the following the Federal Government having to increase spending to pay companies for their China investments alongside a lowering of value of those companies that are not getting full reimbursement, all of this as a result of Chinese nationalization of assets.

"Free trade" bump.

[hedgetrimmer]

You can bet that Diane Feinstein will be the first to appoligize to the Chinese, if the automakers don't sign over their patents and technology. She will also be the first to apply for tax payer restitution of her investments if they come after her assets.

[harpseal]

Please think about these problems and post any ideas you have for solutions.

[searchandrecovery]

Good article, harpseal.

Well, opic should be abolished. If it isn't, though, what would happen if China seized the assets of foreign factories there - would opic run out of money? Is there a cap on the amounts they pay to individual companies? Curious about the worst-case scenario.

[FreePaul]

With reference to your headline, the Federal Government is a financial disaster.

[LibertyAndJusticeForAll]

Red China currently is aiming for Taiwan. It is unlikely that we will stop the PRC from taking over Taiwan, our democratic ally. We would never be able to pay for the losses to "American" corporations with business in Red China. Below is a description of what could happen in Indonesia. OPIC is very happy to use the backs of Americans to support the risks that it assumes for generous donors.

http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2002/1/28/155951.shtml
[Between 1993 and 1994, 26 companies received support from the Overseas Private Investment Corp. and the Export-Import Bank totaling about $5 billion. According to the center's study, five corporations – Enron, U.S. West, GTE, McDonnell Douglas and Fluor – donated $563,000 to the Democrats and received at least $2.6 billion in contracts.

MOREOVER, THE U.S. GOVERNMENT WAS AWARE THAT INSURING THE FALSE CONTRACTS INSIDE INDONESIA COULD PUSH THE OVERSEAS PRIVATE INVESTMENT CORPORATION INTO BANKRUPTCY.

"OPIC's combined exposure in Indonesia is close to USD 1 billion, or 5 percent of OPIC's global exposure, all in the electric power sector. As such, resolution of potential insurance claims and/or actions could result in 'an adverse material impact' on OPIC finances," notes a cable from the U.S. ambassador to Indonesia.

YET, DESPITE BEING FACED WITH TOTAL FINANCIAL FAILURE DUE TO HUGE LOSSES, OPIC CONTINUED TO BACK MORE POWER DEALS INSIDE INDONESIA.
The Commerce documents note that during the Clinton years, Indonesian dictator Suharto contracted for 26 U.S. taxpayer-sponsored power projects while his impoverished nation could afford only one such plant.]

[rdb3]

A comprehensive measure that addresses this issue:

1. Get rid of government subsidies for offshore investment of US companies. OPIC is the first such program which should go but support of World Bank programs that subsidize the outflow of Capital would be another.

2. Use tariffs on those nations which are engaged in unfair trade practices such as currency manipulation (China and India for example), those nations which refuse to open their markets to US products (China for example with its 50% tariffs on US consumer goods and non tariff barriers), those nations that subsidize competition to American Industry (airbus for example) and those nations which have slave conditions for their workers.

3. Use tariffs and other means to prevent the relocation of jobs offshore that are essential to the national defense. If necessary take control of the company seeking to export vital technology or industry by means of eminent domain (No I do not like this last option and I will only defend its use as an absolute last resort like say in the case of rare earth magnets essential to smart bomb technology).

4. An immediate end to guest worker programs. If people wish to come to the USA to work and make a life let them immigrate according to the rules.

5. Provide economic development zones where the corporate income tax is zero for operations within these zones. In order to operate in this zone a company must agree to only purchase American components if available and employ only American citizens or legal immigrants in these operations. These economic development zones shall be eventually be expanded to include every bit of every state once the benefits are shown I would like them to be totally implemented immediately but I realize that may be overreaching.

6. Scale back unnecessary regulation including the tort system. Institute a cap on punitive damages, limits on class action suits, and limits on liability to the actual percentage of liability with no plaintiff able to collect if said plaintiff was involved in the commission of a felony at the time of the alleged tort or was more than 49% negligent in the alleged tort. Note that the loser in a frivolous lawsuit shall pay the attorney fees of the winner. There are many other regulatory structures that also need to be included that need to be included such as repealing the Family leave mandate, getting rid of OSHA etc.

7. Increase the domestic content in purchases by the Department of defense and give absolute preference in non-domestic content to proven allies of the USA over say the French or Germans. The only reason any content for DOD purchase may come from non US allies is that content is not available elsewhere and is essential.

8. Do not allow expense involved in moving operations overseas to be included in business expenses under the IRS code.

9. Prosecute for perjury anyone who has made a false statement in order to employ an H1B or L1 visa worker. I will be lenient on the actual perjurer if he/she was ordered to make this false statement and he/she provides testimony to aid in the conviction of the person ordering the perjury. Just because a person is a CEO does not give them a pass on criminal behavior.

10. Prosecute anyone who orders the transfer of vital defense technology or funds a R&D project that could be of use to our military overseas except to strong allies of the USA. Make the necessary enhancements to our espionage laws so that continued support or funding of any R&D in a nation whose government has threatened the USA is guilty of espionage. The UK and Australia come to mind as meeting these criteria for being eligible for transfer of technology first. There will be other nations and a gradation of what can be transferred to which specific nation. Under no circumstances may technology be transferred to any nation whose government has threatened the USA within five years without a complete change of government or specific exemption from Congress and the administration.

11. Deport all illegal aliens immediately and take measures that prevent the entry of any more illegal aliens. Fine [and sanction] all companies knowingly employing illegal aliens. Criminal sanctions should be imposed on anyone helping an illegal alien stay in the USA in violation of our laws.

12. Decrease the punishing levels of taxation on companies and eliminate the double taxation on corporate dividends. See effects of item 5 for how minimal this will be if item 5 covers the entire USA. Eliminate all IRS provisions that inhibit free use of independent contractors by businesses for example section 1706.

13. Eliminate the minimum wage so that the workers can be paid based on productivity. Overtime compensation will remain the same but instead of 150% of the "wage" the worker would receive 150% of the production pay. If one through 13 are enacted, #14 becomes an irrelevancy as no one will be working for that low a wage.

Question: Who'd be on board to support this?

[Filibuster_60]

Remember some of the Companies that are invested in China Motorola, Intel, HP, Microsoft, Boeing, General Motors, GE, and just about every Fortune 1000 company one can name.

IMO the big boys are in a safer position than you suggest. Nationalizing their assets may benefit China in the short term but it'll be more than cancelled out by the repellent effect it would have on any future Fortune-1000 investment in China. The Communists can't afford to make enemies of the big MNCs, particularly their top executives, but the sheer number of such companies now operating in China makes it very easy for them to play off individual MNCs against one another, thereby extracting maximum concessions from those they choose to do business with.

[Ahban]

outrage