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Pastimes : Have They Come for YOU Yet? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Ann Corrigan who wrote (30)	11/10/2003 4:24:24 PM
From: David Miller	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 34

Ann, when you say >> American companies should close up shop & return those jobs where they rightfully belong--on U.S. soil<< I'm not entirely sure that's what would happen. From our perspective, if the US companies operating in Australia were to "close up shop", the jobs would not go anywhere - they would stay right here. The capital would leave the country, because that's what brought the US company here in the first place... money. Shares in an Australian company were purchased, and overnight an Australian company disappears from our stock exchange, to reappear as a line item on a US company's P&L. The only US jobs created were a few local assignments supported by the inevitable "seagull" executives. Most local jobs stayed put, except those that were eliminated in order to improve the profitability of the US parent. So if Kraft, for example, were to withdraw from their overseas businesses there would be repatriation of capital, but not of jobs. And a small point on the repatriation of capital: what exactly would they do with it? A strong lesson I learned in the mid-seventies was that money does not have any value until it is used. And the essence of capitalism is that when you use money, you need a return on that investment. Kraft have pretty well run out of domestic opportunities for a return on their shareholders' money (see their annual report), so I'd be interested in your views on how it should be spent. The rest of your post I agree with absolutely. There is a massive disconnect between what we have created in the name of "business" and the basic needs of human beings. But I feel that you have clutched hold of one particular straw as being the wand that will magic away all the imbalances we have created over the years. My own view is that we should better use the connections and dependencies created by world trade, rather than scrap it altogether. A much tougher call, because the process is managed by politicians who have never themselves been involved in the creation or running of a company, and therefore lack all but the flimsiest awareness of what impact their actions have. Have a great day david