Watch out, Americans! Here come the Japanese, buying up our prime pieces of property and undermining America's independence in the process.
That, at any rate, seems to be a not-so-uncommon reaction to the latest Japanese purchases, of Columbia Pictures, Rockefeller Center and a high-rise office center in Houston.Though the purchases may put a dent in America's national pride, the fears and resentment are unwarranted. So are the cries for some sort of ban on big purchases in America not just by the Japanese but by other outside interests.
Keep in mind that, even though Japan has a larger direct foreign investment in American commercial real estate than any other foreign country, this situation is not the result of any grand conspiracy on the part of the Japanese.
Rather, individual Japanese businessmen are merely doing what their counterparts in America have long done - looking for bargains wherever they are to be found.
Scripps Howard News Service reports that Americans own at least as much property abroad as foreign investors own in the United States. Indeed, Morgan Guaranty Trust Company estimates that, when adjusted for inflation, American assets abroad are worth far more than foreign holdings in the United States.
Foreign owners employ less than 4 percent of the American work force and own less than 5 percent of U.S. assets. American foreign investment, by contrast, usually amounts to a much larger chunk of other nations' gross national product.
What's more, Japanese and other foreign investors are buying American property not because our nation is weak but because it is strong. Compared to many other nations, America offers social stability, reasonable tax rates and a comparatively non-intrusive government - conditions always attractive to investors.
America can't slam its door in the face of foreign investors without inviting other countries to treat American investors the same way. Meanwhile, the fact that so many outside investors consider the United States a good place to put their money should be considered not a cause for alarm but a compliment.