The sale of Anheuser-Busch, which makes iconically American Budweiser beer, to the Belgian firm InBev is not another death rattle in the American economy, but it does carry some negative symbolic aspects.

American companies get sold to foreign buyers all the time. Sometimes the sales get rolled back if the asset being sold seems to have strategic importance. A recent example was the attempted sale of the management of a number of important American ports to a company held largely by the government of the Persian Gulf state Dubai.

The sale of Anheuser-Busch on Monday, for $52 billion, appears to be a straightforward commercial deal. The Belgians generally make good beer, so it is unlikely that the taste of A-B's product will become less palatable. The question in this case is whether the American psyche has suffered a body blow by the sale of this quintessential American company to foreigners.

The people of St. Louis, A-B's and the Busch family's longtime capital, are -- as it were -- weeping in their beer over the sale. Even though InBev assures them otherwise, they fear a loss of jobs there, not an unreasonable fear given the general shedding of jobs, nearly a half million since the beginning of this year, by the American economy overall.

Another focus of the sale is the fact that the wife of the putative Republican candidate for president, Cindy Helmsley McCain, owns one of the country's largest distributors of Anheuser-Busch products. It is probably not a conflict-of-interest issue, but if he were elected it could require some fancy financial footwork on the first family's part to keep their interests apart. Mrs. McCain's company has in the past been an active lobbyist on a number of issues.

Will U.S. sales of Budweiser drop if the company is no longer American-owned? We doubt it. It is likely that sales of Budweiser, like those of Toyota, Honda and other foreign-owned companies' products, will depend on the quality of what the company is selling rather than the nationality of its owners.

As far as we can tell, it is still likely also to be, "This Bud's for you," not, "Ce Bud-ci est pour toi." So, don't worry, drink up.