Don't Let The Bush Keep You Down
Today the U.S. congress voted 62-2 to block the sale of American ports to the country of Dubai. It seems they suddenly realized that the public was fed up with stupidity, and if they let the sale go through, they'd be out of a job come election time (which I believe is right around the corner). It took 6 years for America to realize that Baby Bush doesn't have his priorities straight. I'm not sure if we can say the same up here in Canada. Within the last year we watched two Canadian institutions get bought out by foreign interests: the Fairmont Hotels by a Saudi prince (which includes the historic Royal York in Toronto and the Banff Springs in Banff) and the Hudson Bay Company, which is probably the most "canadian" business, seeing as it shaped our country's history for the first 200 years. Plus a couple of years back we lost Tim Horton's to the group that owns Wendy's. I don't think such drastic foreign ownership is a good idea (trickle-down economies don't work like people think; most of the money is still leaving the country). And I don't think our current political climate is going to make things better.
posted by Kris at 7:14 PM
2 Comments:
Kris,
I would just like to point out that the US has several ports owned by foreign countries (such as Britain), and the only reason they voted not to allow Dubai is because they are a Muslim country. Dubai has been one of the US’s strongest allies throughout the War of Terror, but that is apparently not good enough for Congress. Basically, this is an example of discrimination, not an attempt to retain ownership.
You make a good point, something that can't be dismissed. I'm wondering how many American citizens know that some ports are under foreign ownership, because I bet they would still bitch about it regardless who the country is. It seems as if the media created the backlash and that is what Congress responded to. But it is clear that the American public would rather have Europeans owning American property than Middle Easterners.
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