Since I Haven't Been Political in a While...

All this bullshit rhetoric bouncing around in political talk about sovereign wealth funds (pools of investment money owned by foreign governments) is really starting to get on my nerves. The politicians are constantly talking about changing the rules for, or putting onerous restrictions on sovereign wealth funds, often citing 'national security' concerns.

If a foreign government takes a large stake in a U.S. company, even one that's involved in our national security, they can't possibly get technical information from that investment. It's a financial transaction. Even if they managed to get a seat on the board of directors, that's only one vote, never mind the fact that directors are generally just concerned with big-picture business issues. Now I'm no detective, but it would look rather strange to me if a corporate director representing a foreign government started poking around asking questions about our latest military toys and other sensitive technology. There's an FBI office near you! Pick up the phone and call them.

People get so pissed about foreigners buying U.S. real estate and making investments in our publicly-traded companies. BIG DEAL. Before our Yankee lira (dollar) fell off the proverbial cliff, our mutual funds and hedge funds were buying huge stakes in foreign companies all the time, if not buying them outright. Free trade is free trade. It's not like the foreigners can take the companies or real estate back home with them...