Posted on 03/13/2006 11:57:09 AM PST by Willie Green
Are you still driving your 1975 car? Probably not. Three decades of technological change have made it obsolete.
But the U.S. government is still using a 30-year old system for vetting foreign acquisitions of U.S. assets. The slipshod handling of the Dubai ports takeover shows convincingly that today's dramatic geopolitical and economic changes have made that process obsolete as well.
When the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) was created in 1975, America was still a net lender to the world. Because the nation had avoided big international trade and investment deficits, dollars were much scarcer abroad than today, and therefore buying up America was difficult and expensive.
In 1975, moreover, America's greatest security threats were concentrated in the communist world. The United States and its major allies agreed on diplomatic and defense fundamentals, and our homeland was safe from all but nuclear missile attack.
Today, the United States is the world's biggest net debtor. After decades of skyrocketing trade deficits, foreign entities hold trillions of dollars -- a global glut of greenbacks that ultimately can be spent only here, buying U.S. assets.
The security landscape is radically different as well. There are many new threats to American security, including a rapidly rising totalitarian China. Globalization has fostered spread of sophisticated technologies with both military and dual-use applications. Terrorists have exposed the vulnerabilities of the American homeland, but the United States and its allies have been divided on the response.
Thus, CFIUS must be reformed, beginning with new guidelines and a new structure to address current economic trends affecting national security.......
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
[Are you still driving your 1975 car?]
No, I got rid of that old heap years ago. My daily driver is MUCH newer than that.
It's from 1978.
Screw new cars.
"Screw new cars."
Right on! My 1964 and 1967 Land/Rover 109's are worth much more than the 1991 Rangie.
Is it possible to replace some parts of their engines with some of the newer parts modern engines have (fuel system, etc)?
One of the best cars ever built.
I am buying a wanna-be when I get back stateside, unfortunately. But I'll work my way up again.
Heck, you can trade out the whole innards of the truck if you want, as long as the engine fits, though you may have to custom-cut a drive shaft and tranny bell (which could be trouble on an off-roader). There are insert-with-a-single-screw electronic ignition systems that replace points lickety-split, too.
"
Is it possible to replace some parts of their engines with some of the newer parts modern engines have (fuel system, etc)?"
Sure can - I have a GM four cylinder 3 litre engine in one of 'em. The 140 hp sure makes a difference.
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