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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Brumar89 who wrote (281086)	11/13/2013 3:48:58 PM
From: Sun Tzu	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

Now this is why one cannot have a rational discussion with you. Nobody was discussing opposing an unpopular law. We were discussing the way they opposed the law, i.e. shutting down the government to prevent the law taking effect. The rational thing for them to do was to let it go and watch with glee as problems arose...but I know, such things escape you.

To: Brumar89 who wrote (281086)	11/14/2013 1:45:13 PM
From: Sun Tzu	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

America is losing its allure Analysis: A disturbing new trend suggests foreign investors may be falling out of love with the US economy. Enlarge The president hopes more foreign firms like Germany's Daimler, which operates this plant in Detroit, will invest in the United States. (Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images) NEW YORK — The damage Washington’s recurring games of debt default chicken does to America’s reputation tends to be fairly anecdotal. Government employees sent home without pay doesn’t move public opinion, which appears to assume that anyone with a future pension is beyond pity. So, too, are abstract calculations about the reputational harm done to America’s brand — our ability to lead on the global stage. To such arguments, the average American answers, “Why should I care what foreigners think?” One reason is foreign direct investment in the United States, known as FDI. That's the money foreign companies invest in factories, offices and other employment-boosting enterprises based on US soil. ... But the issue exists, nonetheless. Strobe Talbott, president of the Brookings Institution, a Washington think tank, described senior Chinese officials he met in late October as “breathing a huge sigh of relief” that the debt ceiling debacle did not go all the way to default. “I can’t overstate the unhappiness in China about this,” he said, though he did not think they would stop buying American debt or looking for bargain-basement American corporate assets and real estate just yet. He described them as “very concerned investors.” Whether the drop in FDI — or “inbound investment,” as economists call it — is a cyclical blip or the beginning of a downward trend in foreign investment is not yet clear. Compared with previous highs ($314 billion in 2000 and $306 billion in 2008), the 2012 figure of $167 billion certainly suggests a shift in confidence may be taking place. It is not much above the recent low, clocked during the crisis year of 2009, of $143 billion, according to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development. Yet put another way, a trend is visible. In 2000, according to the Organization for International Investment, a trade group that represents the US operations of global firms, the US economy drew 37 percent of all capital invested overseas. The figure for 2012 fell to 17 percent. Or to put another spin on it: In 2012, the World Bank reports that FDI added 1.3 percent to US GDP. In 2008, that figure was 2.3 percent.