Posted on 03/19/2006 2:10:39 PM PST by AZRepublican
The United States must borrow more than $2 billion per day from foreigners to finance its huge trade deficits. In 2005, for example, there was a record deficit of $805 billion in the current account, the broadest measure of trade.
Foreigners sell their televisions, cars and oil to Americans and hold dollars in return. Those dollars are invested in stocks, bonds and other assets, including real estate and factories.
Foreigners already own half of the U.S. government's publicly traded debt. As of January, some $2.19 trillion in Treasury securities were in the hands of central banks, including China and Japan, and private investors abroad.
At the end of 2004, the total foreign direct investment in this country — actual factories, office buildings and other tangible assets as opposed to stocks and bonds — came to $1.53 trillion, 8.2 percent more than in 2003.
That investment shows up in all of the 50 states.
In Oakland, Maine, it's a customer service center for T-Mobile USA Inc., which is a subsidiary of German-based Deutsche Telekom. In Glendale, Calif., it's the U.S. headquarters for Nestle, the Swiss-based food and beverage company.
Arab investment has gotten the most scrutiny of late because of the now-withdrawn bid by a Dubai-based company to buy operations at six major U.S. ports. But statistics show that Arab investments represent only a a fraction of the total direct investment in the U.S. by foreigners.
European nations accounted for $977 billion, or two-thirds, of the $1.53 trillion of foreign direct investment, according to figures compiled by the Commerce Department.
By contrast, Arab countries in the Middle East accounted for $9.3 billion, led by $4.7 billion in investment from Saudi Arabia. The United Arab Emirates was second among Middle East Arab countries with $1.8 billion in investments, according to the data.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
nuclear power plants would help this problem immensely
We need to export more liberalism, its the only way to
dissolve the fabric of their societies as much as ours.
It's called globalization. I always make a point of having at least a third of my portfolio invested overseas. So?
As long as its a publicly traded company, wherever it's based, wherever it has operations, you can bet it's partly domestically owned, and partly foreign owned.
Back when protectionists were howling about 'foreign automakers' my take was always, "So? Buy Honda, Nissan or Toyota stock."
I am really sad to see Fox news reporting in the same bogus way about the trade deficit that one sees on Buchannan-eque nativist sites.
The Trade Deficit is not financed.
When you by the Chinese VCR at Walmart, the money goes immediately to the company who manufactured it. There is no borrowing and no real deficit to speak of. You get a VCR that you wanted in exchange for the $10 you paid for it.
The fact that the US sells more or less products overseas than those sold to US consumers borders on meaningless.
In fact, if it means anything, the US economy is booming. In fact, there is nothing to say that huge amounts of foreign items are re-sold inside the US by domestic manufacturers and are yet counted as DEFICIT.
I fervently hope and pray freepers are not believing these bogus panic stories.
The US economy is booming and the Bush bashers are pulling out the stops to induce a counter panic.
How? It is my understanding that eliminating oil imports entirely would reduce our trade deficit by only $229.2 billion, or 16% (using 2005 figures). Building nuclear power plants does not allow us to eliminate oil imports entirely, so your solution would reduce our trade deficit by much less than 16%, which would not be of an immense help.
Nothing stops Americans from investing in America except they would prefer to spend all their money and save or invest nothing. Maybe foreigners have more faith in America than Americans do.
It was "They couldn't conquer the U.S. during World War II so they're going to buy us up now."
lifted from the headlines...1989
And thats not including all the huge amount of territory(LAND) OWNED by the federal government within the States.. Which is not State land anymore but federal land.. The States diminish the federal government increases.. and the genious of many different governments diminishs.. to one central government which, as the Soviet Union proves, don't work well..
So, back when the US was running a trade surplus, our economy was really hurting?
all our power could eventually be suppled by nuclear, not only electrically, but nuclear could also distill hydrogen from the sea for gas and liquid power.
Nuclear could also give us unlimited power to desalinate ocean water, allowing more fresh water and more irrigation, power could synthesize fertilizer , and with the water, the desert could be turned into productive farm land, the possibles and the economics are endless, but just in my opinion of course!
Hey, they took our money, it's only natural that they put it back :)
Which will come back and bite us badly one of these days. Soon.
The Gov't owns a good amount of assets, such as land, out west. Privatize it to US citizens to help increase the amount of private assets citizens have. A quasi-land run, adapted to the new millenium. There are numerous ways to do it that could excite "disenfranchised" portions of the population, use a carrot and stick approach to get members of the generational working class/poor to change their self destructive culture in order to recieve "free" acreage--if you marry the mother of your kids, get a trade/skill/degree, stay clean, speak and write like an average person, ect. Ie, embrace the characteristics that would have kept you from being poor in the first place, but an asset, "The American Dream", directly dangled in front of you if you pursue those traits *now*.
Other land can be sold to US corporations at a discount, use that money to help pay off the debt, and give tax breaks if they take a chance and hire either A) unskilled workers and train them or B) American college graduates. Basically depopulate the over-urbanized cities and create new towns on formerly Gov't land, towns created by encouraging good "culture" among those groups that have lacked it. I've thought about this for a while, but I won't bore people with a bunch of specifics.
And of course, privatize social security, which would put more citizens involved in the U.S. Stock Market. And have a tax code that rewards savings and asset growth--especially for middle class and upper middle class families--instead of punishing it.
Global corporatism is sucking the life's-blood right out of this country. Our nation, and its economy were built by domestic entrepreneurs, not multi-national CEO's whose only concern is raising stock-prices for the benefit of speculators (who somehow fancy themselves as capitalists) while having no personal investment in building real value in the company, its employees, or society.
Which only reduces the trade deficit by 16%. And it would take many, many years to replace our current fleet of gasoline-powered vehicles.
the desert could be turned into productive farm land,
The productive farm land in the desert is being turned into subdivisions. Sorry, additional fresh water would be be used to directly support more people, not more crops.
It all began with the passage of NAFTA and GATT.We were warned this would happen and it has!I understand America is now the leading producer of matches and toothpicks!
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