China’s Buying Spree of US Businesses & American Aborginal Workers

( – promoted by buhdydharma )

There’s a lot of market manipulation going on these days, with the Feds slashing rates, so-called rebates for consumers, and Bush talking up the economy day after day. It’s doesn’t matter much, however, because none of the economic fundamentals change. In fact, they get worse, since the “rebates” are really just more loans from Japan — going to the people instead of Halliburton. These loans are off-budget red ink that you’ll have to pay back, in the end.

Thus, nations around the world are stuck with US dollars that can only be spent in the US — buying up what few valuable and growing assets we have left, before the dollar devalues further — real estate, natural resources, and sucessful corporations. The other day, I ran across this gem of article at the Washington Post. It has a human-interest/cultural-clash spin that I really enjoyed. You might, as well.

Washington Post, January 28, 2008 — “In 2007, acquisitions in the United States by foreign ventures hit $407 billion, up 93 percent from the previous year, according to Thomson Financial. The top countries investing were Canada, Britain and Germany; the Middle East and Asia — especially China — are quickly catching up.

“The biggest deals in recent months have involved Wall Street firms hit by losses from exposure to mortgage-related investment vehicles…. The sovereign wealth fund that invests the Chinese government’s hard currency is injecting $5 billion into Morgan Stanley, while Citic Securities, a private Chinese firm, is investing $1 billion in Bear Stearns.”

It’s not so much the fact, in and of itself, that US assets are being sold to foreigners at the speed of light that intrigues me.

After all, what else are they going to do with the trillions of US dollars they are stuck with?

It’s the human interest details in this longish article that I find revealing. For example:

Weak Dollar Fuels China’s Buying Spree Of U.S. Firms

SHANGHAI — From his posh office in a coastal city in eastern China, millionaire Zhou Jiaru oversees more than 100 workers at an auto parts refurbishing factory he purchased in a struggling manufacturing town on the other side of the world.

Zhou’s new company is in Spartanburg, S.C.

The Chinese entrepreneur bought it from Richard Lovely, a 56-year-old industrial engineer and mechanic who says his business was in dire straits because of competition from abroad.

Are you aware that the United States is becoming a Colony?

Think about it:

…the weak dollar and weakening U.S. economy have made the United States a bargain for overseas companies shopping for investments…. Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal is once again coming to Citigroup’s rescue. Canada’s Toronto-Dominion Bank is buying an $8.5 billion share of Commerce Bancorp. Singapore’s state-run Temasek Holdings purchased a stake in Merrill Lynch valued between $4.4 billion and $5 billion.

I sure hope they treat the Colonials well. Check this out:

“The U.S. dollar is getting weaker and weaker, and many medium to small U.S. companies are in economic crisis. So they need investments from China. It is very good timing,” said Yu Dan, a representative for the state of Pennsylvania in China.

Yu, who is one of about 30 people in China who represent American cities and states, said at least six Chinese companies are in the process of closing deals in Pennsylvania. One will make some purchases in the food industry. Another will invest in the wood industry, because as Yu put it, “Pennsylvania has very good hardwood resources, and the aboriginal people in the north Pennsylvania woods are good workers.”

Aboriginal people? The Amish, Yu clarified.

Much of the recent overseas investment in the United States has been driven by sovereign wealth funds backed by foreign nations. They are considered ideal investors by many U.S. firms — plus, they have very deep pockets.

One place where the trend is playing out is South Carolina, where nearly 21 percent of the manufacturing labor force works for foreign companies, the biggest proportion in any state except Hawaii.

Haier, a Chinese appliance maker, has a refrigerator factory in the state. There’s also a Chinese-owned chemical factory, printing company and general construction company, among others, that in total employ thousands of South Carolinians, according to John X. Ling, the state’s representative in China.

The low cost of land is cheaper than in China’s major cities, and electricity — which tends to be about a third or a fourth the cost in China — are attractions.  

Yep. The US is now cheaper than China. We’re sorta like their “Own Private Mexico.”

Here’s how it comes down:

Zhou, 54, who purchased the auto refurbishing company in Spartanburg …made his initial purchase of a stake in Powerline in 2005, a few months after the Chinese government did away with its currency’s long-held peg to the dollar and its value began to rise. As the dollar continued to weaken in 2007, Zhou bought more of the company and now owns 85 percent of the South Carolina factory.

He said that the factory employees were apprehensive about working for a Chinese company. “People objected. When we went to visit the factory, American workers said, ‘We work for Chinese now. We don’t have face,’ ” Zhou recalled.

Dick Adams, 57, whom Zhou hired to be in charge of sales and marketing at GSP North America, said the company is proving to employees, the community and the state of South Carolina that they are “good Chinese.”

When Zhou took over, he initially operated the factory Chinese-style, 24 hours a day — with a day shift and a graveyard shift. But the workers complained about working in the middle of the night, so now the factory just keeps regular daytime hours.

Heh. We shall see.

Welcome to Colonial America.

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Corpse Posted at the Daily Kos