M
my2cents
Guest
From Today's Wall Street Journal Editorial Page:
Patriot Games
The U.S. and Old Europe haven't exactly been seeing oeil-to-eye of late.
But American politicians looking for payback ought to be careful lest they
aim at the French and hit Americans instead.
Consider the Senate amendment tucked into last week's war funding bill
that would tighten U.S.-ownership rules for air-cargo carriers and disrupt
Deutsche Post's bid to acquire a portion of Seattle-based Airborne. The
sneaky provision is courtesy of delivery rivals UPS and FedEx, which are
only too happy to block more formidable competition.
We like a French joke as much as the next guy. And it's amusing to see
French's mustard (invented by New Yorker Robert T. French in 1904) hurry
out a release saying that the "only thing French about French's mustard is
the name!" French hotel conglomerate Accor even rushed to remove its
French flags in front of its U.S.-based Sofitels.
But in today's global economy a boycott against a "French" or "German"
company can easily be a blow against American workers. Our politicians are
figuring this out, albeit slowly. A number of House Members recently sent
a letter to the Pentagon demanding that the U.S. Marines end a contract
with the French-owned catering firm Sodexho Alliance. But then
Representative Chris Van Hollen pointed out that Sodexho's U.S. unit was
based in his home state of Maryland, has 110,000 American employees (in
all 50 states) and pays $646 million in U.S. taxes.
Patriot Games
The U.S. and Old Europe haven't exactly been seeing oeil-to-eye of late.
But American politicians looking for payback ought to be careful lest they
aim at the French and hit Americans instead.
Consider the Senate amendment tucked into last week's war funding bill
that would tighten U.S.-ownership rules for air-cargo carriers and disrupt
Deutsche Post's bid to acquire a portion of Seattle-based Airborne. The
sneaky provision is courtesy of delivery rivals UPS and FedEx, which are
only too happy to block more formidable competition.
We like a French joke as much as the next guy. And it's amusing to see
French's mustard (invented by New Yorker Robert T. French in 1904) hurry
out a release saying that the "only thing French about French's mustard is
the name!" French hotel conglomerate Accor even rushed to remove its
French flags in front of its U.S.-based Sofitels.
But in today's global economy a boycott against a "French" or "German"
company can easily be a blow against American workers. Our politicians are
figuring this out, albeit slowly. A number of House Members recently sent
a letter to the Pentagon demanding that the U.S. Marines end a contract
with the French-owned catering firm Sodexho Alliance. But then
Representative Chris Van Hollen pointed out that Sodexho's U.S. unit was
based in his home state of Maryland, has 110,000 American employees (in
all 50 states) and pays $646 million in U.S. taxes.