Amid a creaky economy Congress has found a convenient scapegoat: foreign companies landing American contracts and scheming to take over our iconic brands. First, the Air Force awarded a deal to build refueling tankers to Airbus, a European company, instead of U.S.-based Boeing. And now foreigners are going after our beer.
The prospect of Belgium’s InBev buying Anheuser-Busch, which makes Budweiser and is the nation’s largest brewer, has dragged Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer into the fray. About one quarter of Anheuser-Busch’s malting barley comes from our state. Schweitzer penned a letter to the company last week explaining how many high plains towns rely on the brewer’s business.
“The symbiotic relationship enjoyed by these Montana producers and Anheuser-Busch is one that I sincerely hope will continue as we in Montana watch headlines about a potential buyout,” Schweitzer wrote.
Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., who has raised barley in the past, said he would join his Democratic colleague Claire McCaskill of Missouri in opposing any potential deal if she finds a congressional reason to do so. Both efforts are laudable and both Schweitzer and Tester have strong records of protecting our jobs. The U.S. Congress as a whole, however, is simply stoking fear of foreign investment to distract us as the economy slogs. Its efforts to intervene in the Anheuser-Busch and Airbus deals have more to do with restless voters and a bearish market than legitimate concern.
If these same politicians really wanted to protect American icons, how did the Chrysler Building in New York City land in the hands of the Abu Dhabi Investment Council? Moreover, plenty of “American” beer is hardly American. Miller Beer is owned by South African Breweries. Coors has merged with Molson and is headquartered in Montreal.
The list goes on and is by no means limited to booze. A Japanese company owns 7-Eleven, home of that iconic beverage, the Slurpee. I don’t remember a huge outcry when the Big Gulp changed hands.
No wonder Airbus is irked that the Pentagon, under pressure, reopened bidding for a contract it believed it had wrapped up fair and square. The redo now puts presidential candidate John McCain in a tough spot since he had criticized Boeing’s initial bid and several of his campaign advisers have previously worked as lobbyists for Airbus.
To be fair, Barack Obama’s anti-free-trade rhetoric was a farce and there appears to be little that differentiates the candidates in regard to the subject. After all, embracing free trade, according to most economists, is sound policy. And Washington is only abuzz with this newfound protectionist attitude to wipe its hands clean of responsibility for any economic woes. It’s always better to point blame outward, particularly during an election year.
If Congress wants to police foreign corporate takeovers, it will have its work cut out for it. Economic observers at the financial Web site, 24/7 Wall St., suggest, that with the dollar tanking, American giants such as Hershey Co., Sprint Nextel Corp. and Saks Inc. could be on the shopping block.
Putting aside arguments as to whether anyone should block these foreign takeovers, it’s questionable whether Congress even possesses the authority to block such deals. After Anheuser-Busch rejected InBev’s offer, the Belgian company is exploring a hostile takeover – more recently, however, it announced a more “friendly” plan and a sweetened deal was approved by both sides this week.
And, of course, politicians are up in arms. But the public fretting is just a charade to make us forget about other things: that Washington is mostly reactionary and, because of that, the economy and Congress’ approval ratings have tanked.