Power Flows from the Barrel of a Coke Bottle

Back in August of 2008, Barack Obama said on the campaign trail:

Everybody’s watching what’s going on in Beijing right now with the Olympics. Think about the amount of money that China has spent on infrastructure.  Their ports, their train systems, their airports are vastly the superior to us now, which means if you are a coporation deciding where to do business you’re starting to think, “Beijing looks like a pretty good option.”

But four years later, particularly considering that after condemning John McCain’s “Country First” slogan in 2008, Obama has recently embraced it, what has the preisdent done to make America a better place in which to do business?

While we’re pondering that, there are few things quintessentially thought of as American than Coca-Cola, but they’re also eying China as well these days, as CNBC recently reported:

Coca-Cola now sees the US becoming a less friendly business environment than China, its chief executive has revealed, citing political gridlock and an antiquated tax structure as reasons its home market has become less competitive.

Muhtar Kent, Coke’s chief executive, said “in many respects” it was easier doing business in China, comparing the country with a well-managed company. “You have a one-stop shop in terms of the Chinese foreign investment agency and local governments are fighting for investment with each other,” he told the Financial Times.

Mr Kent also pointed to Brazil as an example of an emerging economy that is making itself attractive to investment in ways that the US once did.

“They’re learning very fast, these countries,” he said. “In the west, we’re forgetting what really worked 20 years ago. In China and other markets around the world, you see the kind of attention to detail about how business works and how business creates employment.”

On the other hand, Barack Obama has learned one thing from China and other communist nations: he sure knows how to work the memory hole like a champ. Or to put it another way: Nice business you have there, Ford. Shame if something were to happen to it…