Watertown Daily TimesTRAVERSE CITY, Mich. — An organization representing the eight states and two Canadian provinces that surround the Great Lakes announced a partnership Friday with former U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson to recruit foreign manufacturing investment to the region.
The Council of Great Lakes Governors and The Paulson Institute, based at the University of Chicago, will try to capitalize on the growing interest of China and other emerging economies in making “direct investments” in advanced nations. Such investments — which often involve buying or expanding plants and other assets — have greater potential to create jobs than bond holdings bought or sold through paper transactions, Paulson said.
“The U.S. overall is not getting its fair share” of those kinds of Chinese investments, he said in a phone interview from Chicago, where the governors’ organization was meeting. “A lot is going to other developing nations, or Europe, or Canada. And the Midwest is not getting a fair share of what is coming” to the U.S. compared with states such as Texas and California, he added.
Governments’ ability to attract investors is limited by the need to avoid favoring one company over another, he said. Still, they can play a significant role — especially in helping mid-tier companies with limited experience in dealing with overseas investors and partners.
“There’s room for a sophisticated clearinghouse, one that is really quite strategic about some specific capabilities a state has and matching those with the right people in a foreign country,” Paulson said.
Less than $2 billion of China’s foreign direct investment was in U.S. companies in 2005, but that total had grown nearly eight times by 2013. So this is a good time for a stepped-up campaign to lure investments that would boost Great Lakes manufacturing and employment, said Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder, co-chairman of the council.
“We have an outstanding manufacturing base” led by automobiles but including a wide variety of other products, Snyder said. “There’s a good opportunity for more of this kind of direct investment in the Midwest.”
China’s notoriously polluted environment offers especially promising prospects, Paulson said. The Michigan-based auto industry is a leader in developing systems that reduce emissions, and the Great Lakes region is becoming a hub for research and production of clean-water technology.
Another possibility: with its aging population, Chinese investors might be interested in Ohio’s medical device sector.
Snyder and Paulson will host a “competitiveness forum” this summer in Detroit to discuss the pitfalls and opportunities presented by foreign investment in regional manufacturing. Later, the partnership will look for ways to link foreign investors with opportunities in the Great Lakes. Another goal: finding good fits overseas for research, development and innovation hatched in the region.
The council includes the governors of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Indiana and New York and the premiers of Ontario and Quebec.
Paulson said the best type of foreign direct investment would be in “greenfield” projects — building new factories or stores that provide steady employment. Another target will be investors who could become complete or partial owners of troubled companies and pump in capital enabling the businesses to grow.
http://www.watertowndailytimes.com/article/20140426/NEWS09/704269765
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I smell a lot of BS coming from this article. Why would the Chinese want to manufacture anything here? Just for the opportunity to pay American taxes and submit to American regulations?
Obviously not.
They only moving into the great lakes region to facilitate stealing our water. (40% of the Earth’s fresh water is produced in Michigan), and that’s what China needs.
The Chinks are here to rob us, and nothing more, and every stinking whore of a politician will be happy to help them for a few bucks.
and forget the taxes and regulations — in China they don’t even have to pay salaries.
No — theft is their only possible reason for being here.
trust me , if they are here on taking land and resources , our government isnt extracting taxes, fees, or regulating them..they save that for us
these Chinese companies are making deals that more than likely are exempting them from any taxation…
we the american public will be sent that bill you can bet on that
Remember that a foreigner doesn`t have to pay taxes for the first 7 years over here 🙁 . Atleast that is how it used to be anyway 🙁 .
Probobly different for a foreign business though I bet.
“The Council of Great Lakes Governors and The Paulson Institute, based at the University of Chicago, will try to capitalize on the growing interest of China and other emerging economies in making “direct investments” in advanced nations.”
And just who the hell gave them authorization to create this unconstitutional entity called “The Council of Great Lakes Governors”? Who gave them the authority to outsource our water?
““The U.S. overall is not getting its fair share” of those kinds of Chinese investments, he said in a phone interview from Chicago, where the governors’ organization was meeting. “A lot is going to other developing nations, or Europe, or Canada. And the Midwest is not getting a fair share of what is coming” to the U.S. compared with states such as Texas and California, he added.”
And just who the hell gave them the authority to ship our water to other countries? Canada I can kinda understand as half of the water, according to the boundary lines belongs to them and half to us in some areas. But Europe, China and any other country before us Americans? Why the hell are we letting them get away with this shit?
HANG THE INTERNATIONAL CORPORATE MAFIA!!
Why the hell are we still allowing Henry Paulson, the man who stole billions of dollars from Americans, to run around free and have the authority to control and sell the water of our Great Lakes?
HE NEEDS TO BE ARRESTED AND HUNG FOR TREASON!!!! This insane!
The so-called ‘government’ has been stealing, er,… I mean… selling water from the Great Lakes to the Chinese for at least the last couple years, that I know of.