What the hell is wrong with the "buy American" provisions in the proposed stimulus bill? The European Union's panties are all in a bunch because of this...Under the “Buy American” clause passed by the US House of Representatives, American iron and steel must be used in construction projects that form part of the recovery plan. The US Senate wants to extend the scope of the clause before the Bill goes to the White House for approval.To me, that is just common sense! If you are going to be using American taxpayer money to fund American construction projects, it only makes sense to use American iron and steel for those projects, doesn't it? I don't think there is a single person in this country that wouldn't be pissed if our tax money was being used to purchase imported steel for these projects.
This isn't the same as the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of 1930 which raised tariffs on imported goods to record levels forcing other nations to increase their tariffs on US goods causing imports and exports to drop in half further worsening the impact of the Great Depression. Nobody is calling for increased tariffs or anything like that, this is just a stipulation that taxpayer-funded projects use American goods. Actually, now that I think of it, I can't believe this stipulation isn't already a law or something!
Sadly, Obama is already pulling back and signaling he would remove the most provocative parts of the bill. I am an Obama supporter and voted for him, but this is a little disappointing.
While this is not directly related to the stimulus plan, it does fall along the lines of Buy American.
ReplyDeleteA good friend of mine runs a local sewage authority. Some time last year they ordered a special tank for one of his sewer plants. When ordering he indicated that he wanted to make sure that the tank was made in the U.S. The tank was to be delivered some time in December of 2008. Well the tank was finally delivered two months late. Guess what, the dam thing was made in France. Needless to say he was pissed.
More complaints from Japan and Australia.
ReplyDeleteJapan and Australia warn on "Buy American," protectionism
Of all the provisions this one was great. I can say even Democrats can stumble across a good idea now and then. R. Emmanual sayed a couple months ago,don't quote me on this but, Crisis is good and alot can get done in this atmosphere. Talk about seizing the moment to push agendas. I guess like Bush and terrorism, right. See their no different.
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