Tuesday, March 07, 2006

What hypocrisy?

UAE Forbids Americans From Controlling Companies
Some advocates of the deal that would allow a company controlled by the government of the United Arab Emirates to manage port operations in the United States argue that opponents of the deal are protectionists who want to restrict free trade. Leave aside the question of whether a government-owned company can ever engage in "free trade."

U.S. citizens are prohibited by law from controlling businesses in the UAE.

MiddleEastLaw.com advises: "Foreign investors are permitted to hold an equity ownership in U.A.E. companies as long as 51% of the equity is held at all times by U.A.E. nationals."

Not that there is a double standard or anything. I'm all for free trade and open markets but it seems as if many times our country engages in an enterprise in the name of free trade while our "partners" take advantage of us.

It is not "free trade" if one country devalues it's currency to keep the price of exports low and the price of imports high. It is not "free trade" to open our markets to foreign investments from countries who do not allow the same for us.

To cling to a notion of free trade while there is an unlevel playing field is not being conservative, it's being stupid.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

"Foreign investors are permitted to hold an equity ownership in U.A.E. companies as long as 51% of the equity is held at all times by U.A.E. nationals."

Isn't the issue with the UAE and the running of the US ports based mostly on the fact that it's the UAE government that owns the company? Not individuals, but the government.

Idler said...

Off topic, but you must see this, the Illegal Alien Gold Card.

Daniel said...

The gold card! How about "Mexican Express?" Now accepted at more DHS offices than anywhere else.

Scottiebill said...

A great many of the members of Congress are voting against President Bush on the UAE deal. They are saying, in effect, that the UAE is going to OWN the ports. They are only going to MANAGE them, nothing more. We all know, or should know, that the cities those ports are in OWN those ports. But the ports are in reality controlled by the Longshoremen. If someone in management even sneezes in the wrong direction, the longshoremen will walk and keep the ports closed for as long as they want them to stay closed. If the UAE runs into that problem, they would likely wish they had never gotten involved in the first place.

I am no fan of unions, but this hypothetical scenario is very possible.

Also, many of these rino Republicans are going to be up for reelection this coming fall I wonder how many of them will survive the primaries in their states. It will be interesting, to say the least.