[smallmancontrov]

...and then whoever sold us the goods turns around and uses those dollars to bid up US assets. Next time you are bidding for a house, take some time to appreciate just how expensive those bit flips have made things.

It did make it easy to raise capital, though, which is nice.

[selectodude]

Don’t blame imports for our sclerotic country banning construction nationwide. Plenty of countries have spent billions on new construction in the US and gotten smoked. The buildings still stand though.

[throwaway2037]

    > Plenty of countries have spent billions on new construction in the US and gotten smoked.

I don't follow here. Can you explain and provide an example?

[nixon_why69]

The point is foreigners reinvesting those dollars into development in the US is... even more stuff in the US in exchange for bits.

Yes, it's owned by foreigners and sends cash overseas but all of the economic activity is here and if push came to shove.. they're not exporting the building.

It's not all gravy, there are issues with having global capital so deeply involved in the country, but it's better than the alternative, there's a reason Americans live so well and its not because they're all smarter or harder working.

[selectodude]

Japan in the 1990s, ME sovereign wealth funds in the late 2000s, China in the mid 2010s.

[throwaway2037]

The original post specifically wrote: "new construction".

As I understand, those investment waves were mostly buying existing assets, not building new ones. From your examples, do you have examples of significant new construction? I do not.

When I think of foreign investment to build things in the US, I mostly think about German/Korean/Japanese auto manufs and Korean/Taiwanese semiconductor manufs. Most people don't understand the massive investment that German/Korean/Japanese auto manufs have made into the US to build and operate plants in the last 30+ years. (This also includes local R&D centers.) It is huge, maybe more that the domestic manufs in aggregate. The same can be said for Korean/Taiwanese semiconductor manufs in the 2020s: The numbers are simply staggering and far exceed domestic producers.

[selectodude]

I know what I said. Lots of foreign money backed construction loans got wiped out. The buildings are still there, the project went bankrupt, and the world kept turning.

[disgruntledphd2]

> uses those dollars to bid up US assets.

Predominantly US financial assets, like Treasuries and company equity.

[smallmancontrov]

Show me a bay area house that wasn't funded in substantial part by company equity.