Imagine two companies. Both companies receive 50% of their revenues from overseas. One company has 80% of its physical assets–equipment and buildings– overseas, and 20% in the United States. The other company has 80% of its physical assets in the U.S., and 20% overseas. Which one is likely to generate more value and jobs for the U.S. economy?
I’d argue that the company which invests in the U.S. is more like to generate jobs and value in this country. This was the reasoning behind PPI’s new list of “investment heroes”–the top 25 nonfinancial companies, ranked by domestic capital spending.
These figures are not easy to obtain. Most companies do not split their capital spending by country, reporting only a global figure. So Diana Carew, the lead author on the project, had to reverse engineer the domestic capital spending figures from other information in the corporate financial reports.
At the top of the list are AT&T and Verizon, which makes sense given the central role that mobile broadband is playing in today’s economy. It’s worth taking a look at the full list.
The rub is, is that enough? It probably is not.
The bulk of Verizon Business, formerly MCI, has been, and continues to be, off-shored – a practice in which Governor Romney, rightly or wrongly, is alleged to have engaged, and for which he is being pilloried daily by President Obama’s campaign ads. Ironic to see them touted as job creators by a progressive web site.