The Wall
Foreign Investment: Love Me, Love Me Not
Kearsarge Global Advisors | July 12, 2008
The Economist discusses the growth of foreign investment in the U.S. and the nation's mixed reaction - from concerns of a "protectionist drift" to the efforts of states to welcome foreign investors.
Foreign Investment: Love Me, Love Me Not
In America's political lexicon, few words are more poisonous than "outsourcing". Foreign direct investment in America, meanwhile, is politically fraught, as witness the uproar in St Louis, Missouri, over a Belgian brewer's bid for Anheuser-Busch. But behind this debate, foreign investors are being wooed by a growing number of politicians, from Manhattan to Mobile, Alabama. "Globalisation is a reality," explains Sam Jones, Mobile's mayor. "You can sit around and wish that something else was taking place or you can take advantage of globalisation, what we call 'insourcing'."