Talk about Lou Dobbs' worst nightmare.

Not only do foreign companies have a record stake in the American economy, many people across the political spectrum are quite happy about it. That's the thesis of Micheline Maynard's new book on the state of foreign investment in the United States. Despite the alarmist sounding title, The Selling of the American Economy: How Foreign Companies Are Remaking the American Dream, is a mostly balanced look at the subject. However, in the debate on the virtues of foreign investment, Maynard is clearly a proponent of "the more the merrier," school of thought.

The scale of foreign investment is quite large and growing. According to the Treasury Department and the Organization for International Investment, the global payroll in this country is more than $365 billion. Further, in 2007 foreign companies paid $42.4 billion in taxes at all levels and $43 billion on research and development in the United States.

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