A New Tradition

The US is a country full of traditions. The American tradition has always to been to throw off convention, lead, and blaze a new trail. One of these traditions is to incorporate new methods of doing things and make existing ideas ours. This dates all the way back to Plymouth Rock and the farming ways of Squanto and his friends. You can look at our Declaration of Independence and constitution and see us incorporating the European ideas on freedom and civil liberties into our own.

If you checked the news in the last few months (or years, for that matter) you've been hearing of the impending doom descending on the American economy. Based on our history of adaptation , and yet contrary to what many well-heeled people think, we should be actively searching for capital inflows from overseas. Over the last few years, the U.S. has been host to many "buying" trips by those from all over the world buying up real estate. The U.S. gov’t and the economically established should be encouraging active foreign direct investment on a much grander scale. There are millions and millions of dollars’ worth of industrial, retail, and office space ready to be bought up for pennies on the dollar. We should be working to responsibly rework the tax code to encourage investment.

In the larger view of the economy, many naysayers have been publicly reticent about taking foreign capital in American companies and brands. I believe unabashedly that this is a fallacy. Some of the most "American" brands in our country are owned by interests outside the U.S. A Beligian company owns Budweiser. Unilever from the Netherlands owns Vaseline and Ben N Jerry's. A German company owns Trader Joe's, and the list goes on and on.

From a global economics perspective, there's no good reason not to be chasing capital. If you’re living in Europe and are looking to safely invest your capital with more than a few commas involved, does investing in some place that uses the euro make sense? The Europeans cannot control the value of the euro or the credibility of those member countries using it. Similarly, if you’re well to do in China, wouldn't you want to put your money someplace where the rule of law matters? For other expanding and developing countries the U.S. maybe down, but isn't out, and it is certainly still a stable haven in which to invest.


This maybe anathema to those in this country who believe “America first” before all else. It's time to wake up; executives all over this country have been investing in foreign nations for decades to our detriment. We have the opportunity to swing the pendulum back our way and with a cheap dollar court industry all over the world. There are millions upon millions of square feet in retail, industrial, and office space available. We can either have overseas investors invest in REITS and other companies, or we can do the "American" thing and chase them down and give them their share of the American dream… and a white picket fence to go along with it.

-The Inside Associate