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Who Owns America?: Left of Center View

Who owns America? Interesting question. Hmmm, who owns America? It probably depends on who you ask. A lot of people would be the short answer but maybe not of sufficient meaning to answer the larger question implied. To understand who owns our country we need to define ownership to some degree I would think but maybe for the time being we can focus on the who instead of the how. I suppose as with any question of ownership we should back-track to the beginning of the issue.

Well, let's see, first it was the Native Americans. They squabbled amongst themselves, but in those days there was so much to go around that actual ownership of America wasn't really an issue. Since the natives didn’t actually believe in ownership as it were it was more squabbling over where they could live as opposed to who “owned” the land. To them the question of ownership would seem rather silly. “Why the earth owns the land of course.” might have been their reply when asked who owns this area or that. But then the Europeans showed up and confused the issue. The Dutch bought a bunch of land. The natives probably thought of it more as getting gifts in exchange for the Dutch being allowed to use the area by the people who were there first but to the Dutch it was a binding contract. They didn't pay much for it, but that was still better than the English, French and Spanish who just "claimed" stuff.

Claiming America sort of works, until someone comes along and contests your claim. That’s when things get more interesting. Things also tend to get a little ugly once the claiming really gets going but what are a couple wars between future allies? It all worked out, England beats Spain and France for dominance in the new world and those ingrate colonists just up and kick the merry old British right on out of Dodge. Go forward in time those once ingrate colonists save England’s bacon in WWII and everything is right as rain. The U.S. has done their fair share of claiming too mind you. The U.S. claimed the moon in the late 60's and so far that's held up, but you gotta wonder how they plan to enforce that in the long run, especially if the new world was any kind of gauge.

See back in the day it didn't really matter who owned the land as long as the so called owners didn't bother the inhabitants, kinda like today’s ghettos, but with a much better view. A whole bunch of wars, revolutions and treaties after its “discovery” North America was divided into three countries and South America, who boy, don’t even want to touch that. Let’s just say things went a bit more smoothly in the northern region than it did in the south. Considering the history of the northern area you can see why I don’t even want to try to make any sense of how South America got to its present state.

In a way during the ‘80’s, the Japanese owned America proving Nintendo to be much more effective than the zero and that you don't need an army to take over, just a lot of pickup trucks and cool electronic devices. It seemed like one day we might all be speaking Japanese but then their economy failed and everything got messy again. Now everyone seems to think China or Saudi Arabia is going to be the ruin of us all but those same people were the ones screaming about a Japanese takeover in the ‘80’s.

So in the end perhaps the only real answer to the question of who owns America is everybody and nobody. People pass on. Governments fail. Today China tomorrow Venezuela who knows what will happen? We are a nation of resilient people who find ways to survive and come out ahead. The powers driving our nation may change but America the land mass will still be here. Her people will be here. The people will not likely change much no matter who owns what. We are a nation of immigrants hailing from around the globe. Whatever group happens to be in charge is only in charge for a limited time because there is always another waiting in the wings to take over. Nobody can buy America on a permanent basis if history is any indicator and the thing that actually makes America great can’t really be bought. The idea of America, well, that's free to all who are willing to own it.

Kyle Pesonen - Staff Writer | E-mail Comments on this column.

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Free Trade vs. Fair Trade
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What Does a New Leader for Cuba Mean for America?High Tech Worker Visas and American Unemployment
What's Wrong With Our Current Immigration System?
How Will The Upcoming Election Impact Immigration Policy?
National ID Cards for American Citizens
American Children of Undocumented Immigrants
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Who Owns America?: Right of Center View

In 2005 The Washington Post reported that Asian investors were buying U.S. mortgages at a record pace. Also pouring money into American banking were Middle Eastern countries such as Saudi Arabia. Given the economic outlook at the time, some raised red flags that this type of investment might lead to a weakening of the American economy because it only supported consumption as opposed to manufacturing or employment of American workers. The primary economists in the Bush administration who are strong believers in supply-side economics said that this was a sign of a strong and growing economy. Pointing to the attractiveness of American business to foreign investors the Bush economists said we had nothing to worry about.

Turn the page to 2008, our country is running headlong into recession with home foreclosures at record levels and unemployment on the rise. To counteract this trend the Bush administration has decided to give us a tax refund. But wait, we have a budget deficit. Where on Earth is that money going to come from? You guessed it, Asia and the Middle East. So now with a serious foothold in the U.S. real estate market, billions in treasury bonds and a growing trade advantage foreign countries are poised to supply the cash for more of the fantasy-world spending of the never-conservative Bush administration. Can nobody see where this might be leading?

This type of economic control over American properties makes virtually every American subject to the economic whims of foreign investors. They literally have the power to cripple our economy by calling in all of their markers. Beyond that, they now own large tracts of American real estate giving them a territorial foothold should they decide to begin using that real estate for something other than housing Americans or American businesses. As more and more Americans are defaulting on their mortgages, the foreign banks are amassing mountains of American real estate that they can sell or redevelop as they see fit. How can this be a win for America?

As an economic conservative that believes in the merits of taxation only for the necessary and the building of sustainable economic foundations for long term growth, it sickens me to hear any within the Bush administration refer to themselves as conservatives. These backwards nitwits have no clue about the fundamentals of long term growth and merely replace tax and spend liberalism with borrow and spend idiocy. The neo-con-artists try to fool us with bible pounding and nationalism while raping our economy for a quick profit. We are mortgaging our future by selling off our country to Asia and the Middle East and it is our children, who members of the Bush administration clearly care nothing about, that will pay the cost. For true conservatives these are dark times. The Democrats are not conservative, albeit more fiscally conservative of late than their counterparts in that they want to actually pay as they go, and the Republicans have forgotten what conservative means. What hope can there be for the long term economic health of America with either party holding the reigns?

Americans don’t own a good portion of America any longer and we should all be worried about the long-term impact of that. Even if the American public rebounds from this recession, we will still be looking at weak economic fundamentals as long as foreign investment holds such a significant portion of our assets. Even when Americans can begin to afford their mortgages again, the money will be flowing out of the U.S. economy into Asia and the Middle East. The smart American investor is now not investing in the U.S. but in Europe and Asia because their long term economic outlooks are better than ours. With the European Union getting stronger economically and Asia being the world’s primary supplier of consumer products it only makes sense to invest there just as it makes sense for them to invest in our cheap real estate and massive consumer debt with huge profit potential. The problem for America is that the investment coming here is not creating jobs and therefore is not a catalyst for growth. Our land is finite as are our natural resources that will not last forever. If we don’t begin to invest in our workers and finding new ways to insert American products and services into the global economy we will wither and die. The foreign investors can always pull out their money and leave us out in the cold. We have to be able to stand on our own two feet and make it without their help if we are to survive.

The Realist - Patriot at Large | E-mail Comments on this column.

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Last Week's View from the Right:
Redefining Immigration

Previous Weeks Views from the Right:
Racism and the Immigration Debate
Free Trade vs. Fair Trade
Migrant Farm Workers and the Cost of Groceries
What Does a New Leader for Cuba Mean for America?
High Tech Worker Visas and American Unemployment
What's Wrong With Our Current Immigration System?
How Will The Upcoming Election Impact Immigration Policy?
National ID Cards for American Citizens
American Children of Undocumented Immigrants
Globalization and Immigration
Human Rights and Immigration Policy
Multiculturalism and the Holidays
Unsafe Imports: Who's to Blame?
Amnesty and Elections
Undocumented Nannies and Politics
Enemies At The Gates
Drugs and Immigration
The Border Fence
American Immigration Abroad
Archives by Date

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