[Continuing ...]
... Global companies based in the United States such as General Electric and Honda -- two of Ohio's biggest employers -- and business groups including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce warn that foreign nations could retaliate, when the United States can least afford a trade war.
...
Brown said he is "in no way" trying to slow international trade. But "we have a responsibility," he said, to give American manufacturers the chance to supply materials for "these massive investments in infrastructure."
The House bill requires that steel and iron used in road and bridge projects come from the United States. Exceptions would be allowed if producers could not meet demand or if the provision pushed up the price of a project by at least 25 percent. The Senate version of the bill is still being hammered out. Brown wants to add concrete to the requirements.
Brown's office said he also wants a resolution endorsing enforcement of Buy America provisions that already exist at federal agencies. Brown noted that the Department of Homeland Security used Chinese steel in its new barrier along the border with Mexico, and that the Bush administration failed to follow a process that allows for waivers of the rules -- and requires public notice -- in certain cases.
(Emphasis added)
http://www.cleveland.com/...
Tell me Why American Tax Payer Dollars should NOT go to Americans, again?
"Foreign nations" might not like it? huh?
U.S. Chamber of Commerce should think about changing its name!
The Chamber of Commerce, defends its anti-American stance with more double talk:
U.S. Chamber of Commerce Hits Back on 'Buy American'
Jan 30, 2009
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce reacted heatedly to criticism of its opposition to "Buy American" provisions in the economic stimulus plans.
"Some have slammed the U.S. Chamber for opposing 'Buy American' provisions, calling our position 'economic treason.' Try economic patriotism," Chamber President and CEO Thomas J. Donohue said in a statement.
"If our goal is to create good-paying jobs at home by selling American-made goods and services overseas—where 95% of the world's consumers live--then 'Buy American' requirements don't make sense," he said. "If we refuse to buy foreign-made goods, then our trading partners will refuse to buy from us. And since we are the world's largest exporter, who will be hurt more?"
(Emphasis added)
http://blogs.wsj.com/...
Union President Leo Gerard, points out the irony of the Chamber's position on "exporting US jobs."
To survive, Americans must assert themselves as economic patriots
January 29, 2009
By Leo W. Gerard - United Steel Workers, President
That’s right. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce wants to spend the tax dollars of unemployed Americans to create jobs in China and Indonesia, Korea and India.
The 15 business groups sent a letter to Congress opposing provisions added to the recovery package that would strengthen existing laws requiring government agencies buy American steel and other products when building public works projects with tax dollars.
...
The package is, essentially, Americans agreeing to increase their national debt to revive an economy sucker punched by greedy Wall Street gamblers. So when business interests want to spend those tax dollars overseas, to create jobs there at the expense of unemployed Americans, while at the same time increasing the U.S. trade deficit, frankly, it looks a bit like treason.
To survive this economic catastrophe, Americans must assert themselves as economic patriots. They must stand up to the likes of the Chamber and the Roundtable and call them out for being economic traitors to the United States of America.
...
The Chamber and the other business groups whine in their letter to Congress that strengthening "Buy America" rules may violate international agreements.
That’s bogus and the groups know it. America can honor its international obligations while using U.S. tax dollars to employ American workers. For example, states that receive federal grants for highway and mass transit projects may specify that products for that construction be purchased from U.S.-based producers without violating international agreements.
...
Last year, the Government Accountability Office reported that "Buy America" policies are effective by "protecting domestic employment through national infrastructure improvements that can stimulate economic activity and create jobs; protecting against unfair competition from foreign firms as a result of foreign government subsidies; and maintaining national security interests through the continued use and development of certain industries within the U.S. economy, like the iron and steel industries."
(Emphasis added)
http://blog.usw.org/...
Who is this mysterious "15 business groups", hiding behind the Chamber of Commerce? Are they the same companies laying off American workers now? Are they the same companies planning to rake in excessive profits, by exploiting underpaid laborers in foreign countries?
And WHY is "The group of 15" Lobbying OUR Congress -- the Congress of WE The People?
Well this "Buy American" Issue has just reached the President's desk today, in the form of talking points "trying to re-balance, America's huge Trade Imbalance" ...
Obama To Hu: Correct Trade Imbalance
U.S., Chinese Presidents Say They Seek More Constructive Relationship
WASHINGTON, Jan. 30, 2009 - CBSNews
(AP) The White House says President Barack Obama has told Chinese President Hu Jintao that global trade imbalances must be corrected.
...
Obama's call follows criticism of China's currency policies by Vice President Joe Biden and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and a "buy American" provision that has been attached to White House-backed stimulus legislation.
The U.S. trade deficit with China is the largest ever recorded with a single country and recently has been setting new monthly highs.
...
Biden, interviewed Thursday by CNBC, said that the Obama administration would "say to China - which occasionally the last administration was reluctant to do - 'You're a major player on the world scene economically, and you've got to play by the rules that everybody else plays by."'
(Emphasis added)
http://www.cbsnews.com/...
And the Message behind the Message, for China:
Obama's Call to the Chinese President, Decoded
Glenn Kessler - WashingtonPost - Jan. 30, 2009
The White House statement is even more opaque, but it has one interesting passage: "President Obama stressed the need to correct global trade imbalances as well as to stimulate global growth and get credit markets flowing."
U.S. officials have long pressed China to let its currency, the yuan, grow stronger, which could increase the price of Chinese exports and reduce China's trade surplus.
So when Obama is speaking of "global trade imbalances" -- a point the White House noted he "stressed" -- that means he is really saying that China's currency is too weak and the government needs to do something about it.
(Emphasis added)
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/...
SO what do you think ...
Should Tax-Payer funded infrastructure projects, be farmed out to the "lowest bidder" -- whatever Country that might be?
Does the record-level Trade Imbalance, left to us by the last Administration, even register a blip, on your Radar Screen?
And Why is it, do you suppose, that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, always manages to act so Un-American? And then, Why do so many of our elected Congressmen and Congresswomen, pay so much attention to them?
When will Congress, Act -- to HELP AMERICAN WORKERS??
(PS. Thanks for voting in the poll, too)
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