ERD50
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Short of enforcing "Buy American" as a policy, introducing protectionism and fueling a global trade war -- ill-advised, IMO, especially in this economy...
I think this was the topic of another thread, but since you mentioned it here, it is relevant:
Obama was in Peoria the other day, talking with people at Caterpillar, and the CEO. While the CEO was positive on some aspects of the Stimulus bill, he was totally against the "Buy American" rules.
Think about that a second. Here is an American Manufacturer, against a "Buy American" policy. It's not a contradiction - he knows that there is more harm than good in that policy, it's a net negative for American Manufacturers.
Now, shouldn't Congress and the President listen to the people who are doing this for a living? And Caterpillar is exactly the kind of story America needs - they provide good jobs, they manufacture in the US, and they *export* those goods at a profit. Yes, I think we should listen.
The genie of the "global economy" can't be put back into the bottle no matter how much we want to make it so.
Yep. The only thing that I can see that will keep our standard of living from coming closer to the global mean, would be some new technology advancement that gives us some sort of regional advantage.
-ERD50