If there is one United States industry that has survived the recession intact, it is the business of finding a home for a growing pile of Chinese money.
Want to open a manufacturing facility in Michigan? There is a consulting firm for that. Want to set up offices in Manhattan? There are financial incentives for that.
In fact, if there is anything at all that strikes your fancy in Georgia, the state's economic development commissioner wants you to know that it is a good, safe place to invest, and that 80 per cent of the US population is within a two-day truck ride or a two-hour flight.
'We are opportunistic,' said Ken Stewart, who is in China this week to give seminars designed to attract investors. He said: 'We're looking for companies that need access to the US and that have the capacity to invest ... Our ultimate success is for there to be more investment and jobs in Georgia.'
While the anti-China rhetoric reached fever-pitch in Washington before the Group of 20 meeting, it is a different story at the local level. Eager for Chinese money to revive jobs, American entrepreneurs, developers and officials are booking flights to China and welcoming delegations of potential investors.
There is good reason for that. The last quarter of 2009 saw a record volume of Chinese commitments to build factories or open offices in the US, consulting firm Deloitte said, as well as mergers and acquisitions.
