Don't Worry About Foreign Investment

This Associated Press story may give the impression that foreign investment companies are taking over the United States:

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/071219/morgan_stanley_investment.html?.v=2

For those of you concerned about the infusion of foreign capital into the U.S. banking system and securities firms, don't be very concerned. The countries making the investments are merely returning some of the dollar capital that they've accumulated in their foreign reserve funds to its source.

In other words, it's a way of reducing the effect of our foreign trade deficit. Besides, what are these countries going to do? Allowing the largest banks and investment banking houses in the world to come crashing down, which would further erode the value of the U.S. dollar, would be disastrous for those countries so heavily invested in U.S. dollars as their main reserve currency.

I say, let them invest. They can't take the banks and securities firms with them when they leave and it only binds them more tightly to the U.S.

The danger that I see is the indirect influence that their investments would allow them to exert through these otherwise power house firms. Their influence would be more easily disguised by being used through U.S. citizens working in these institutions.

Perhaps our congress could look into amending the laws governing the activities of foreign agents and lobbyists to include this scenario?