I’ve been holed up in the Urbana Free Library’s Archives for the last two weeks doing background research for an upcoming teacher institute. I’ve learned much from flipping through the pages of old C/U newspapers like The Courier and the Champaign County News-Gazette, with their constant kudos and quips about business around town. I’m a big fan of local and Illinois history.

One of the most interesting facets of reading through old papers is the advertising. The ads for automobiles in the 1950s and 60s are fascinating, as are the changes in dress and household goods. One of the most interesting product evolutions is the washing machine, which goes from a hand driven machine with a large crank (The Maytag “Pastime” of 1907) to the gas powered monsters of the 30s (Maytag Model E), to the beloved hummers that are even now cleaning my clothes (Maytag Atlantis). The ingenuity that went into the development of these time and grief savers is admirable. Especially in the case of Maytag.

Founded by Illinois native Frederick Louis Maytag in 1893, the Maytag Corporation began life by creating a safer threshing feeder for farmers, who often suffered debilitating injuries feeding straw into a threshing cylinder. By 1902 Maytag had cornered the market on threshing feeders, and Fred turned his attention to new inventions, including the brief production of the Maytag-Mason Automobile in 1910, which was famed for being the most powerful car of the age. By 1907 Maytag had produced its first washing machine, the Pastime. Innovations came fast and furious, including the creation of the first aluminum tub washing machine which radically changed the face of the market once and for all. By the 1950s Maytag Corporation was one of the most successful manufacturers in America, employing thousands of Americans and creating convenience for millions of others.

In short, Maytag Corporation is the epitome of American success. Maytags are as American as apple pie and baseball.

Which makes the recent news of the Chinese corporation Haier’s interest in buying Maytag all the more disturbing. The deal didn’t go through, but it revealed a major flaw in the “free market” thinking of the last twenty years: the rest of the world isn’t playing fair.

While our leaders in Washington and Wall Street have opened up our most sacred corporations to foreign investment and purchasing, most of the rest of the world refuses to sell their corporate interests to Americans. The Asians are renown for their reluctance to even allow American investors to buy their stocks. Try buying Hyundai sometime. It’s quite the chore.

The Chinese would never allow the sale of a hallmark corporation like Maytag to a foreign country. They would see that as an invasion of their country, and a sign of weakness. We call it free trade.

Much has been made of the fall of the Soviet Union and the “collapse” of Communism. But careful study of global economics shows that the Communists may indeed be winning the Cold War after all. Instead of using missiles and threats to coerce us into détente, the Chinese and Vietnamese are exploiting the weakness of capitalism: our obsession with greed.

Maytag will not be sold to the Chinese, and Unocal may stay American as well, but it is just a matter of time. The power of the Chinese Government will allow it to offer the highest prices for American corporations in the future. Our profit mentality will demand that we acquiesce to their offers. Soon China will own more than our government ($120 billion in T-Bills), they’ll own our washing machines as well.

Fred Maytag just rolled over in his grave.