Posted on 01/30/2009 3:48:23 AM PST by kellynla
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- A debate is brewing at home and abroad over an economic stimulus measure that would require materials used in the program's infrastructure projects to be purchased from American companies.
In the $819 billion House bill passed Wednesday, the so-called "Buy American" provision would, with some notable exceptions, ensure that only U.S.-produced iron and steel be used for construction. It expands on a 76-year-old federal law. The Senate, which is likely to take up stimulus next week, would go even further, effectively requiring that any products and equipment be American-made.
"The Buy American provision will help stimulate our own economy," Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., who wrote the provision, told CNNMoney. "When taxpayer dollars are used, we should urge that money to support the things produced here at home."
The plan is already drawing opposition. The European Commission on Thursday said it might challenge such a move if it were signed into law. The proposal also appears to fly in the face of a G-20 agreement reached in November, when world leaders decided not to raise new trade barriers in 2009.
(Excerpt) Read more at money.cnn.com ...
Once again they have it all wrong.
1) Disband all unions first. This will bring wages and additional compensation into line with a free market economy.
2) Do not require buying American, Incentivize it, particularly on the business to business level of manufacturing. reduce corporate tax burdens and regulations.
3) Write a constitutional amendment stating that the United States can not own or operate private commercial businesses. No government controlled businesses.
With the way we are goin,g the state is going to own everything, and then they want us to be their customers. Excuse me but F&^K That!
I think its critical that we build more portland cement manufacturing facilities in the US, too much is coming from overseas.
Sounds like a good provision to a really bad bill.
What is the point in going 1 trillion in debt only to hand the money off to a foreign company?
Colossal “Stimulus” spend ... Check
Protectionism ... Check
Great Depression ... Check
“Disband all unions?”
Ever heard of the National Labor Relations Act, Comrade? LOL
thats not very diplomatic and unilateral
I’m confused.
The State of TX already operates under a By America system of purchasing. When bidding a Non-Domestic product one must be at least 25% cheaper than the lowest Domestic bid, before it can be awarded.
Exactly. Good points.
I think we will see Bambi using this “Buy American” stuff because it sounds good and will enable him to take over more of the means of production. Once the collective farms and factories are in place, there will be no choice but to “Buy American.”
People are going to fall for this protectionism stuff, though, without a doubt. Renegotiate trade agreements with other countries, make sure they are not barring our goods (and Europe in particular is famous for that), but don’t try to function as an autarchy.
Can you spot you union label?
Free trade is the world’s answer, not worker’s unions.
This has nothing to do with “worker’s unions”, Comrade.
It has to do with the fact that when you buy American made goods Americans work whether they’re in a union or not!
gezzzzzzzzzzzzz...it ain’t rocket science!
Hell, you can’t even buy American from the state next door to you without hitting trade barriers. Buy a car in another state with a lower tax, and the state you live in with a higher tax will expect you to make up the tax difference as a “use” tax. Let’s get rid of our own trade barriers first.
We’re nothing more than slaves on the federal, state and local levels.
Yes it has everything to do with the Democrat’s pay back to the unions.
gezzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz ... Buy a clue.
It also causes trade wars.
The union payoffs continue.
No you “buy a clue”, Comrade.
Only 12% of American workers belong to a trade union.
I am not getting the feeling the world loves us now as we were told they would.
Do it NOW!!
“The union payoffs continue.”
Yea, while you buy ol’ Nazi pistols! LMAO
There is a new fall hit series due out in September “Are you smarter than an Obama voter” Supposed to be full of good stuff Comrade. Enjoy your Obammunism.
Cheers.
Comrade? Here I am proposing a free market system without the bonds of government regulation, and I am a Comrade?
Of course i know about the NLRA. I am an employer. Unions have put a strangle hold on America, and artificially raises wages and costs since its inception. We have the Minimum Wage issue because the rest of free market America can not keep up with the way unions push costs ahead. Unions are an artificial stimulant on the economy, and not in a good way.
And by disbanding the unions, I was not addressing the specific mechanics of doing that. Certainly laws will have to be amended. With small exceptions for education and healthcare, police, unions are an affront to our way of life in America, and represent the mob mentality, and lack of personal accountability.
A little over half of states are forced-unionization. The rest are Right to Work states. I am in one of those.
Yes disband the unions who have managed to put a strangle hold on America with the voices of very few. Unions are front for organized crime mainly, as the union reps and leaders are on the top of a huge pyramid scheme. Keep them dues rolling in, is their main focus, not the rights of the workers.
You want to have collective bargaining. Why not make it easier. When a union wants more concessions, then all of their issues can be up for a public vote by the people in the state where the businesses reside. Now that is Collective Bargaining. Somehow I think the unions wouldn’t find they had as much support as they thought. This would of course private business out of business, having the public making business decisions, the same way that Unions are killing them, by forcing bad business practices upon them. The unions have the government aiding the private sector demise.
I certainly hope you are not advocating unions, because then who is the Comrade?
How can this be? lol....
We have let our industrial base crumble around us. We no longer have the skills and facilities that we had just 40 years ago. It will take several years to get back to even close to where we were as the world leader in manufacturing just a generation ago.
Sending all that work, and jobs, overseas sounded great when the only consideration was the bottom line of the ever-bigger corporations. But the game has changed. That approach didn't work at all that well, and now we no longer have the ability to do it ourselves.
“The State of TX already operates under a By America system of purchasing. When bidding a Non-Domestic product one must be at least 25% cheaper than the lowest Domestic bid, before it can be awarded.”
Texas is great.
So lets say you have to buy american and you want to buy a gun. American taxes and costs of production are now very high because there is limited production and high demand. That drives the price up. We can’t manufacture anything worthwhile in America anymore and I am a manufacturer. Costs are insane from all the regulations.
And let me tell you my wages are high and my guys get insurance and 401k without collective bargaining. The problem with unions, is they are suddenly entitled and not accountable. That makes for a poor work product, and a higher cost of doing business.
Do you want to be trapped into buying something when the price is artificially inflated by market controls?
Removing unions, and making every AMerican actually accountable for being able to support their family, and keeping their jobs, will restore our free market system, and reduce overall costs, so there would be no need for people to be forced to buy American, they would do it because it was a better product at a better price.
Unions are a scourge on this country, and have driven the Democratic party for 80 years with their bogus agenda. Trying to hide the harm that unions do, by forcing people to buy American would be a travesty to our economy.
Think Big Picture Kelly. Only democrats come up with weak short term plans with no economic outlook for the future.
hogwash...only 12% of Americans belong to trade unions
hey, you think we actually have to face realities like “* Currencies must equalize. ...can’t employ third world slaves indefinitely without the prices of their labors eventually rising.”???
But we’re American...it’s our birthright to be paid 10x for an equivalent labor unit!
Wait until they discover that some critical component is no longer NOT made in the USA.
Oh, that’s right, there are always exceptions if it interferes with the demonrats real goals.
LOL!
Great delivery!
A successful global economy requires that everyone adhere to the same standards, play by the same rules, and enjoy the same quality of life. "Same rules" = "Same laws" = global government.
And "global government" = monopoly - never a good idea!
If we just thought these things through we would do what our forefathers did in their infinite wisdom, which is to establish a system of tariffs that exist for the betterment of our own citizens, and invite other nations to take care of themselves.
Oops...
Wait until they discover that some critical component is NOT made in the USA.
Don’t think so much, you might pull a muscle. Cheers! LMAO
"There is no right to strike against the public safety by anybody, anywhere, any time." Calvin Coolidge, in a telegram, 1919 breaking a strike by Boston police
Globalization will make buying American difficult.
Of course, that’s exactly it’s purpose, to weaken America.
Look, if you want to give handouts to overpriced (i.e., higher-priced) Amwerican firms, then why not do it, instead of taking my money and not getting the best deal for the dollar? This is just another socialistic propping up of American uncompetitiveness instead of addressing why American firms can’t compete.
I must say this is the first time I have had anyone support unions on these boards.
Ok Kelly let me educate you about economics. Unions may be 12% of the workforce but they are embedded in integral portions of our country that are widespread, and effect everyone.
Auto
Steel
Lumber
Other manufacturing
Waste disposal
Transportation.
Unions are at the core every nearly every single thing made in America on a big scale, as well as some major services. Their benefits affect all of us. You need to take economics it seems.
Our government workers represent a smaller percentage than unions and look how much they affect all of us. They have driven us to the brink of disaster with debt.
The auto industry represents 1% of Americans. but they produce a product that every single American buys and uses. When Unions raise the cost of making cars, then regular Americans who are not at such high wages, can not afford to buy the cars. Thus was created the minimum wage. Minimum wage forces wages to increase so people can continue to afford to buy union made products. A minimum wage makes the cost of your hamburger go up. You need a raise to afford your hamburgers. And the cycle continues until the minimum raise needs to be raised again.
That is not real growth. That is artificial and leads to bubbles bursting. Ever seen that happen?
It is a sickness that needs to be cleansed immediately. Tough shit if a worker who has one real skill can’t make $70k anymor. Maybe if they worked extra hard and did a good job they COULD EARN THOSE WAGES!!!!. Holy cow EARNING their keep rather than having a mob demand it under threat of shutting down a business.
Yeh your way sounds better, lets keep the unions.
I assume you mean "communists"?
I’m all for the “Buy American” provision for the simple fact that it will indeed show how deep America has been gutted of its manufacturing base, which has gotten so bad that it’s becoming a national security issue. How can we make war when we’re dependent on other countries, largely communist and Muslim nations for our raw materials and energy needs? Enough is enough. Let’s stop thinking about short term value and look down the long road and get this bus back on the road.
Jim
FYI, genius, only 12% of American workers belong to trade unions.
I suppose we shouldn’t lose any sleep over it. Mrs. Clinton will use “smart diplomacy” and straighten it all out!
/s
FYI, genius,
This protectionist crap is spearheaded and funded largely by the unions. Wake up. They are not your friends. Genius.
Figures ... didn’t make the cut huh.
If you look a little deeper, you'll find out why the city went to India to get sewer lids. It is our own federal government that has pushed many manufacturers out of the country through it's alphabet of regulatory agencies - EPA, OSHA, and the NLRB come to mind. Companies can't tear down and rebuild because of brownfield cleanup laws. They can't continue to run the old plant because the EPA keeps inventing new "pollutants" or has to protect the three-eyed snail darter. They can't pay for performance and they can't share the hurt in bad times because they're locked in a closed-shop Union state.
Then, of course, there's the greedy trial lawyers, always looking for new ways to extract money from the productive earners so that they can give a small portion to their client and enrich theirselves.
This country keeps pricing and regulating and litigating itself out of manufacturing, and then whines because people buy foreign-made products.
Yes, and we can see how well they've worked out for auto manufacturers and steel. The only place where unions continue to thrive is in monopolies like education and postal delivery where government has put up huge barriers to private interests. Even in areas where private schools thrive, the taxpayers still are forced to prop up the public school.
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