Only ourselves to blame

It seems an American icon, Anheuser-Busch, will be sold to the Belgian firm InBev SA.

The sale has jingoist blood boiling, with Web sites and pandering politicians opposing the sale because, well, we can't let those lousy foreigners own the Clydesdales, can we?

Yes, we can, if the shareholders - the owners of the company - agree.

There is an argument for preventing a foreign company's purchase of a U.S. firm on strict national security grounds - if the company being sold develops or produces cutting-edge technology for the military, for example.

But beer? Come on.

Foreign companies are back to buying more U.S. assets recently, which increases awareness of what has been going on since, well, since there has been a United States. Add a few high profile purchases, and it seems as if the United States is for sale.

Actually, the opposite is true.

U.S. companies still own a lot more overseas than vice-versa. Called "direct investment," U.S. firms own foreign companies worth about $3.3 trillion, according to the federal Bureau of Economic Analysis, while foreign firms own roughly $2.4 trillion in U.S. firms.

Granted, we'll have to hope that the sale won't mean loss of Hoosier jobs devoted to the making of Bud; afterall, we're not pleased as punch that the Swedish firm buying Kobelco Metal Powder in Seymour will close that plant's doors when it shifts work to its plants elsewhere.

If you want to diminish American firms' ability to enter overseas markets, expand their presence around the world and compete in the global market, prevent such foreign investment as the Anheuser-Busch sale. But be prepared for foreign countries will reciprocate.

A large part of the reason that foreign companies are buying U.S. firms is the fall in the dollar, which makes U.S. assets relatively cheaper, and the huge trade deficit.

We're spending billions more dollars on foreign goods than we're selling overseas. Those dollars have to go somewhere - either to purchase land in the United States or stocks or bonds or U.S. Treasury notes or U.S. companies.

Do you want to do something about foreigners buying our companies? Stop buying so many foreign goods, and they won't have the dollars to purchase our companies.

The bottom line: If you're looking for a culprit, look in the mirror.