Buying Into America

This in-depth report by a New York Times national correspondent and a professor of public administration concludes that foreign investment is eroding America's control of its destiny. Foreign-owned banking assets in the U.S. increased from $32 billion in 1973 to $445 billion in 1986; Japanese firms build industrial plants in the South and Midwest, to the delight of hard-pressed state governments; and companies from Hong Kong, Taiwan and Korea maintain 90 offices in Illinois alone, according to the authors, while British investors own massive portions of downtown Washington, D.C., real estate. The Tolchins also document how the U.S. was transformed in four years (1982-86) from the world's largest creditor nation to the largest debtor. While reciprocal American investment abroad is almost totally barred, note the authors, foreign interests have acquired increasing power to influence the U.S. public and affect government policy. ""America has been selling off the family jewels to finance the Federal deficit,'' charges a Congressman quoted here. First serial to New York Times Magazine. (February)