For Sale: America

(11 of 11)

A more important reaction to the foreign buyathon would be for Americans to adopt healthier economic habits. Those especially include a concentration on selling more exports and a curbing of the appetite for foreign goods, particularly luxury consumer items. Even there, the current bargain-basement sale of U.S. assets may eventually prove to be of some help. Quick to recognize the export advantages of the weak U.S. dollar, for example, the new management at Hoechst Celanese has already decided to move some chemical production from West German factories to American ones. At the same time, new managers like Sir Gordon White are giving their American troops a pep talk. Says he: "In the U.S., you haven't got the drive to export. It's often very difficult to convince managers in companies we've bought that they should flog their products in Britain. They say, 'Why go to all of that trouble when I can sell in the U.S.?' "

White would be only too happy to discover more American corporations that need to be taken over and set straight. Says he: "I do keep a close check on many U.S. companies. We could still launch another bid of more than $10 billion in the U.S." White's bankroll is seemingly inexhaustible -- but then, so are the exciting economic opportunities of America itself. With all those tempting troves of undervalued wealth in view, it is small wonder that Sir Gordon and his many foreign imitators still want to buy, buy, buy.

CHART: TEXT NOT AVAILABLE

CREDIT: TIME Chart by Cynthia Davis

CAPTION: LOADING UP

Foreign direct investment in the U.S. in billions of dollars

DESCRIPTION: Foreign investment in 1980 & 1986 by Switzerland, West Germany, Canada, Japan, Netherlands, Britain.