Attitude towards foreign investors

Sometimes we really have to reflect on our attitude towards foreign investors.

When I read about the rules regarding foreign ownership of houses and apartments in New Zealand, I start to think about the attitude towards foreign investors.

There are politicians who want to stop foreigners from buying houses in New Zealand.  They are referring to the Chinese, not the Australians.

However, after the Christchurch earthquake a couple of years ago, the New Zealand government went all out to woo foreign investors.

They needed a lot of money to rebuild Christchurch, and they needed the foreign investors to pump in billions of dollars.

What is this attitude? 

On one hand, they want to stop foreigners from buying houses.  However, when they need money, they woo foreign investors.

In fact, as I think about it, I realize that such attitude towards foreign investors is common.  We can see it everywhere, from China, Europe to United States. 

The Chinese government keeps on changing laws to stop foreign investors from buying apartments in China.  They do not want the price to go up. 

However, they want the foreign investors to invest both technology and money for a vibrant economy.

When United States was in a deep recession years ago, and the real estate market was at an all-time low, they turned to the Chinese to buy the real estate.

They even offered permanent residency for those Chinese who had invested a lot of money.

This just shows that money speaks louder than words. 

When the politicians do not need foreign monies to help them solve a problem, they can speak a lot of nonsense about curbing foreign investors.

When they need the money, they have to eat up their words, and open their arms wide to welcome the rich investors.

By the time election comes, they will talk about stopping the rich foreigners from driving up the prices again.