The initiative, while eventually successful, was strongly opposed by radical conservatives who saw it as a means of expanding government expenditures. The lost that battle, but were successful in fighting much capital investment anyway - which is why our bridges and schools, etc. are in such disastrous condition.
As for the assertion that US state and local governments, or even the federal government, has invested signifant funds overseas - I have never seen such an assertion before, know of no statistics supporting it, and find it lacks credibility and relationship to what I do know of the history of investment flows between the US and other counties.
For example, it is well known that the Reagan and Bush administrations alike have funded their deficits through purchases of US debt by foreign investors and governments. And that without such purchases, the value of the dollar relative to other currencies relative to the dollar would have fallen.
The artificially high value of the dollar which results reduces the cost of foreign goods in the US. It increases the cost of US goods to potential purchasers in other countries. At first it primarily benefited oil companies who made more money from maintaining demand from this backdoor subsidy of imported oil.
But with the advent of free trade, the artificially high value of the dollar meant that the subsidy was extended to imported goods. Naturally, US companies found it advantageous to import their products (as Nike) rather than make them in the US. As the cycle progresses, we see US companies moving their production, and the technology they use to produce goods, to countries like China - as has been discussed here.
The artificially high value of the dollar, and the fact that goods produced overseas and sold here are so subsidized, works against the US - both its labor, and its producers who are unable to move production offshore.
The "strong dollar" may be the friend of the consumer of cheap imported goods. But it is the mortal enemy, the viper at the heart, of the American worker and the long term health and welfare of our nation.
