The world finds it's too hard to do business with the US

[AGENDA21]

Lucrative opportunities taken away on a political whim; the danger of being locked up by an over-mighty government agency; the brick wall of protectionism - the business community expects to do battle with all these things in an emerging market.

Yet this suddenly seems to be a description of doing business in that most developed of all markets, the United States of America.

In the UK, in the cash-rich Gulf states and in fast-growing India, different incidents in the past week have made people ask the same question: is it worth doing business with the US?

Critics say the outcry over the £3.9bn acquisition of P&O by Dubai Ports World, which will transfer the running of five US ports to a state-controlled Middle Eastern company, has exposed the US Congress at its xenophobic worst. But it has also revealed more starkly than ever the protectionist tide that is waxing in America under the guise of national security.

http://news.independent.co.uk/business/analysis_and_features/article347680.ece

[sui generis]

1. bullshit

newswire to "investors" seeking to buy pieces of America: do your business on top of the table.

That is all.

If you have to hide your dealings, we have to wonder why.

[zanne]

2. Nice try. nt

[Armstead]

3. Not to sound like an isolationist, but I hope so...

We allowed the pendulum to swing way too far in the direction of placating Global Big Capital at the expense of our own economy and sovergnty.

I suppot international trade and some degree of international investment. But we also have to protect our own economy, nd not allow it to become sold out and diluted by kowtowing to the global corporate oligopoly and elite investors.

[skylarmae]

4. pardon my french - but -' xenophobic worst, protectionist', f**k these

people and the whores they rode in on.....

When are we going to realize, we had better take care of our own, cause the world ain't gonna do right by us...
and if we don't take care of our own, we deserve what we get...

I for one would rather control my own destiny.

My heart aches for my Country.

[dysfunctional press]

5. just wait until our consumers don't have anything left to spend-

then the rest of the world will really have no use for us.

[stevietheman]

6. If you thought the global locusts (corporatists) held sway over...

the American people, just look at the British--they are thoroughly brainwashed.

It's amazing how the British don't seem to understand that we're talking about a government that has had *real* connections to global terrorists in recent years. And xenophobia has *nothing* to do with that fact.

And there's nothing wrong with a "protectionism" that is based on properly securing our country.

[Boomer]

7. Are we the only country that wants to protect our own interests?

Surely EVERY country in the world would prefer to have control over vital areas of national security and sovereignty. It would seem a no-brainer that some aspects of a nation's infrastructure -- such as sea ports -- should remain free from a conflict of interest on the part of the owners.

I certainly would not be surprised if another country's citizens protested against a U.S. corporate buying up their seaports. A corporation holds no allegiance to the seller nation and would be subject to influence in the interests of the U.S. instead.

To declare that every piece of land, every business, no matter what its purpose, is up for grabs on the auction block of globalization is to essentially disband the concept of national interests and loyalty. CEOs may want that kind of world, but most people are still mired in "old think", seeing themselves as citizens of a country.