Will the U.S. Get LBOed?
- Thread starter ASusilovic
- Start date
Quote from ASusilovic:
China and the Gulf states are hungry, and they've just sat down for an American buffet. In the last few months alone, state-affiliated funds and companies have taken bites of American icons, picking up small stakes in Advanced Micro Devices, MGM Mirage, Nasdaq Stock Market, Blackstone Group and Bear Stearns.
The deals were designed to be small enough to avoid scrutiny from the U.S. government. This conveniently played into the hands of sellers, who were able to offload pricey positions while giving virtually nothing in return, such as board seats or veto rights.
But the mergers-and-acquisitions story of 2008 will be how these foreign sovereign funds -- sitting on an estimated $2 trillion to $3 trillion of reserves -- direct their appetites. Fattened by the U.S.'s own trade imbalances and encouraged by favorable currency rates, they aren't likely to stay so compliant for long. Further down the buffet line sit entire U.S. companies.
Seven sovereign funds, including those of Abu Dhabi, Kuwait, China, Singapore and Russia, now sit on piles greater than $100 billion. Outside the U.S., these funds have proven more adventuresome, with a Dubai company recently moving to take ownership of the airport in Auckland, New Zealand.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119552149452198640.html?mod=mktw
the US political/financial landscape will prevent this...
when your printing your way out, your effectively stealing natural resource wealth from commodity producing countries, in order to realize 'true value' in the exchange, that paper needs to be immediately converted into hard assets, preferably into the hard assets of the country printing...basically your trying to exchange monopoly money into gold.
so in order for the US to win, in the situation, its assets can't be exchanged for the paper it prints. Instead this paper is looking for conversion back into international commodities...fueling the booms in the various markets.
Quote from ASusilovic:
China and the Gulf states are hungry, and they've just sat down for an American buffet. In the last few months alone, state-affiliated funds and companies have taken bites of American icons, picking up small stakes in Advanced Micro Devices, MGM Mirage, Nasdaq Stock Market, Blackstone Group and Bear Stearns.
The deals were designed to be small enough to avoid scrutiny from the U.S. government. This conveniently played into the hands of sellers, who were able to offload pricey positions while giving virtually nothing in return, such as board seats or veto rights.
But the mergers-and-acquisitions story of 2008 will be how these foreign sovereign funds -- sitting on an estimated $2 trillion to $3 trillion of reserves -- direct their appetites. Fattened by the U.S.'s own trade imbalances and encouraged by favorable currency rates, they aren't likely to stay so compliant for long. Further down the buffet line sit entire U.S. companies.
Seven sovereign funds, including those of Abu Dhabi, Kuwait, China, Singapore and Russia, now sit on piles greater than $100 billion. Outside the U.S., these funds have proven more adventuresome, with a Dubai company recently moving to take ownership of the airport in Auckland, New Zealand.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119552149452198640.html?mod=mktw
You must of missed the 70s... when the Saudis were going to "buy America"...
And the 80s when Japan was going to "buy America"...
But in the end, of course... America ended up with the money.
This is just a replay with a new cast of Sheep being fleeced.
This article seems naive in light of the following absolute law:
Foreign investors are ALWAYS at the mercy of the locals.
Try investing in Russia or China or America to test my "law".
And another point: foreign investment is good (unless it risks national security). We need the foreign capital right now. All Americans on this board should be honest and admit that. Without that foreign capital our economy will go from soft to hard landing next year imo...
20 years or more ago the worry was "foreigners" taking over all the valuable US real estate. Certain groups will always find an enemy or a "them", because it suites their needs.
We will never get off of the oil habit. We will never pay $20 for a towel that walmart will sell for $5 and the govt will always spend more than it collects . America loves to cut taxes to win elections. Look at Canada it has high taxes and its almost paid of its debt and have free health care and a very low poverty level and a strongh economy .
Where are you getting this? Our average is about the same as Canada:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Income_Taxes_By_Country.svg
I agree with on the debt. But they are not whuppin our butts on taxes by any stretch of the imagination...
If I understand what you are saying, I agree. We need cheap foreign imports from China, quality cars from Japan and cheap labor from Mexico. I don't understand what is so complex about all that.
It doesn't make us any less of a country that we are dependent to a certain extent on other nationalities. In fact, quite the opposite...
Not sure just guessing but i lived there for 10 yrs. They pay i think the same income tax but they have the a 15%sales/gst tax.I know they have higher gas tax . Things like getting a drivers license is $120 and i think here in florida its $30 or some thing like that. Not quoting govt statistics just comparing my personal experiences. Also they dont dont get the refunds at the end of the year like i do here.
Interesting getting the personal perspective. It's just that I think most people think that the US is the world standard in low and fair taxes and nothing could be further from the truth. Imo if we had low taxes we would have taken over the world because private money is infinitely more efficient than public...