BOY oh BOY - That "Made in USA" thing stirred up a shit-storm worldwide, now didn't it?

[ConcernedCanuk]

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and noone in the USA Administration figured that out ? ? ?

or was this planned . . .

I wonder . .

[Beaverhausen]

1. you can say that again

:wtf:

[Enrique]

2. people are pissed off here too

Chamber of Commerce is like, buy American? wtf?

[ConcernedCanuk]

I hafta ask - why Nancy for an avatar?

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.

[Enrique]

9. why wouldn't I?

she's going to be the most powerful voice for progressive legislation, why wouldn't I show support for her?

[ConcernedCanuk]

14. If you are right about Nancy, then you got a better reason than I do for my Harper avatar

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And I DO hope you are correct.

I've just read so much about her in a negative slant over the last few years,

But I definitely can't claim to know anything about her other than what I've read

I still think our Harper dude is kissing USA ass though - I won't apologize for that!

[tavalon]

23. I hope Enrique is right because she is quite entrenched as an encumbent

and she has been such an encumbrance to those of us who would see justice and perhaps a little spine from the Democrats. We're stuck with her, I hope she gets better. Even just being less of an obstructionist would be nice.

[tavalon]

22. Did something change?

When is she planning on becoming the most powerful voice for progressive legislation? I for one, will be thrilled, because she certainly sucked at setting tables, so it would be nice to see her be good at something!

[nadinbrzezinski]

3. Problem is that this made in the US laws were IN THE BOOKS

For example, US Army uniforms had to be MADE IN THE US...

So why are people surprised

Oh and globalization as we know it, IS OVER.. mark my words

[Oregone]

6. Its over for a few decades.

:)

[nadinbrzezinski]

11. It is over, AS WE KNOW IT, learn to read

you will not see this animal again

DAVOS... this year, use the google

[Oregone]

12. LOL...I know what you are saying, but I don't have that faith

So I give it a mild break of a few decades

[nadinbrzezinski]

13. Points at history degree, and the end Empire.... and patterns

the American model is SEVERELY discredited

The US will be lucky if the US Dollar remains the reserve currency when all is said and done (and the only way that conceivably you'd see that model again)

Globalization will happen... but not under the US Model... and not this decade, or probably even next... this crisis will take that long for us to recover from... and as is, I will WATCH like a hawk GDP numbers for the US, and world wide... over certain percentages the failure is absolute

Those are the ones that indicate a depression.. so far, no... but this year will be critical

For the US any GDP of -10% is indicative of a depression. Alas, for the World GDP we are in uncharted territory and the World Bank is still trying to determine that magical number

[leftstreet]

15. ...

I watched an interesting program recently about Russia. What fascinated me was learning that they're not a credit society. Few people (the working classes) have mortgages or credit cards - they're pretty much on a cash basis.

Don't know how that will shake out for them, but I thought it was a dramatic contrast to American individual debt.

[nadinbrzezinski]

16. That was the US until 1950 or so

here is a bit of trivia most don't realize... consumerism was designed by Keynes and others as a hedge against Depression, or panic, as they were known at one time. The policy came with stiff regulation of credit and other things (which is mostly gone)

Our road to the full practice of this policy started in the 1950s with very early credit cards that had very strict checks

Now Reagan stated the deregulation of this and other financial services, and we all know how that ended.

Perhaps the way it was originally conceived it was fine... but the way that it's evolved it's not

Why many folks that grew during the depression never bit is exactly that experience.

[leftstreet]

18. Wonder what Keynes would think now

All major seaports crammed with cars and stuff they can't move, invisible bank bailouts, Putin all crabby at Davos !!

[nadinbrzezinski]

43. That was not what he conceived off

in fact, he is probably going TRADE BARRIERS YOU IDIOTS!

[tavalon]

26. I want us to step down as a world leader

Is that wrong?

[nadinbrzezinski]

44. Essentially it has already happened but the political class

has not woken up to that little factoid yet

[tavalon]

25. Great Goddess, you have such faith

Would that I could emulate. It's been dealt what should be a mortal blow but unless this recession dips into a horrific depression (not out of the cards by a longshot) that beast is pretty resilient.

[me b zola]

28. The last uniform that I was issued was not made in the US

IIRC it was made in Mexico.

[Nickster]

31. Because the Trade Agreements Act allows some countries to be acceptable, Mexico is one of them.

[nadinbrzezinski]

45. And the last shirt I bought for hubby before he retired was made in the USA

But Flying Cross still does that

[BlooInBloo]

4. Italy's version is even worse than ours...

http://www.americablog.com/2009/02/italian-foreign-food-ban-grows.html

[Oregone]

7. See, this is what I was worried about.

Trade war time....

You want to re-establish sovereignty and sensible tariffs, fine and good. You want to ban foreign products (essentially embargo), then you have a world of pain coming.

[BlooInBloo]

8. Read the article. They're just bigots.

[Trajan]

5. I must be further out of the loop than I thought I was ...

I have no idea what you are talking about ....

[leftstreet]

10. A "buy American" provision in the stimulus bill

Here's an article about Canada and steel:

http://www.todaystrucking.com/news.cfm?intDocID=21130

TORONTO -- Canadian steel producers and their trucking providers are trying to make heads or tails of what U.S. President Obama's protectionist 'Buy American' proposal means for their industry.

During the U.S. election campaign, Obama's team assured Canadian officials that various anti-trade comments the president made to union-heavy gatherings in critical swing states like Ohio and Michigan was just political red meat for Democratic faithful.

But Canadian manufacturers and their service providers are once again nervous over the Democrat-controlled House's Buy America provisions being included in the $825 billion stimulus package, which, if passed, would restrict imports of foreign-made iron and steel.

The provision would effectively ban Canadian steel products and related raw materials from infrastructure projects receiving money from the 'stimulus' bill. Foreign products would only be allowed if builders show domestic products drove up the costs of a project by 25 percent or more.

[ConcernedCanuk]

17. We are still hurting from that lumber deal that dragged on for over 5 years

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WTO kept ruling in our favor,

USA refused to pay

Then Harper let the USA get away with only paying part of the award, shorting us for over a Billion dollars

So

we're sorta sensitive on this trade thing . .

[safeinOhio]

24. Does Canada still have media content laws?

[ConcernedCanuk]

32. Yup

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[ContinentalOp]

36. Haha, good point. Cancon is ok eh? But how dare you buy your own steel!

Fuck Canada.

[safeinOhio]

46. OH NOOOES I luvs Canada

Don't want no South Park movie war with my friends.

[Sandrine for you]

53. Yes and it really pissed me off when some of your website tell me I can't have access because of my

location. So help ourselves to communicate better.

[Oregone]

19. er...Buy American (except for IT)

[ColbertWatcher]

27. And banks. n/t

[MidwestTransplant]

20. I would support a law that said flag lapel pins must be made in the USA if they are to be worn by

demagoguing politicians.

[aquart]

21. Doubt it. It's a natural reaction to bad times.

When there's little money, you expect it to take care of your own, not strangers.

[Vinca]

29. All I know is when stuff was made in America everyone had jobs.

In the 1960's and 70's, within 10 miles of where I live, there was a shoe factory, a handbag factory, 2 paper product factories, a couple of book manufacturers and a few others that would employ a person after they graduated from high school and afford them the chance to make a living sufficient to support a family, buy a home and live a life. Now they are all gone and this same person is asking whether you want fries with your Big Mac and hoping to save up enough money for their own apartment someday.

[cherokeeprogressive]

42. You have just touched upon why this silly bailout shenanigans is NOT going to work.

We have no manufacturing base to lean on any longer. This fact begs the question: WHERE will those 2-4 million jobs we're being promised by the Obama administration be created? Are the big three automakers suddenly going to start making fuel efficient, affordable cars that their workers can afford to buy? Nope. Are we going to put millions of people to work making solar panels? Nope. Are millions of us going to work in smoking cessation clinics? Nope. Are millions of us going to work in STD education? Nope.

Where do you create millions of jobs in a country the likes of the one we've become? Build more fast food restaurants and unionize their workers?

[iconicgnom]

52. So, those consumers prefer to shop at the Gap outlet, where prices are low

and quality is high, because the state of the art factories they buy from employs 3rd world slave labor (hey, not all child lavor. some grammas too!) and can produce stuff at low low prices that no factory in the US can. This state of affairs was sold to the 3rd world often at the point of a gun, or by economic blackmail. It's what the US wanted, and got! So, now the US has to compete, and that means US workers have to compete - unless, say, you want to change the rules now that they're being forced on YOU? Is that it? But, but.... Y'all still hate Venezuela, right? Those commies who've gotten uppity and're refusing to follow the US economic dictates? Y'all love Columbia, right, because the despot who rules there is your man and plays your game. Clinton's game. Bush's game. The same game.

[mdmc]

30. what are you talkin about?

[Gin]

33. the only things I can think of that we can "Buy American" is the banks

nothing else is made here.......I think the Buy American is more rhetoric.

[ConcernedCanuk]

34. Read the news - USA "protectionism" - "buy USA products"

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Gee

it's even news in China and India

But I ain't surprised that the USA population doesn't know what's going on

They let GeeDubya ruin the country for 8 years -

no reason to think the general population got real smart all of a sudden . ..

[mdmc]

35. Can you give me a taste of what it is?

I assume that it is some sort of planned (protected) economy thing where a certain amount of tax dollars goes to American made products.

I fully support shopping locally. Oppose free trade.

That being said I can barely pay my debts, and I can't afford my health insurance co-pays. Frankly, I don't give a fuck what Obama does, as long as he gets re-elected. That is how high my expectations are.

[4 t 4]

37. Just for now Everything should be

Buy only Made In The USA. What do we even make anymore ? I look for made in the USA and have for years

[ContinentalOp]

39. We make a lot of stuff. What are you looking for?

Point being, all of these green energy initiatives and such should be putting money toward making solar panels or whatever in the US. Not handing the money to some company with an office in the US who is going to get everything manufactured overseas.

[4 t 4]

40. What do we make ?

[ContinentalOp]

48. Are you serious? What a silly question.

I can think of American made goods in almost every category you can imagine.

Wikipedia says "USA is a leading manufacturing power in the world with a yearly industrial output 2,696,880 millions of US Dollars (data for January 2008). The US manufacturing is highly diversified and technologically advanced. Main industries are petroleum, steel, motor vehicles, aerospace, telecommunications, chemicals, electronics, food processing, consumer goods, lumber, mining."

I suppose you're not going to find an American made TV or cellphone but... well I'll ask again, what is it exactly that you're looking for?

[iconicgnom]

51. bombs. a shitload of bombs. and other military equipment.

and y'all like dropping them, and starting wars and selling to all sides. for freedom and democracy. and jesus. never forget jesus.

[mdmc]

41. So I read up on this clause

and support it.
As a liberal I support government using its resources to improve the lives of its citizenry.

[ContinentalOp]

38. Of course multinational corporations will hate any "buy US" provisions.

Why would you want to sell a $50 American made hammer to the government for $500, when you could sell them a 50 cent Chinese made hammer for the same price?

[Canuckistanian]

47. I alway think if the situatiion were reversed

What if the US lodged a protest if Canada were to implement a "buy Canadian" policy?

That's right, we would scream "US imperialism" or "interfering with our sovereign rights".

This is an AMERICAN STIMULUS PACKAGE. Not a "Canadian Stimulus Package" or even a "Mexican stimulus Package".

So, unless the US is cutting off ALL foreign trade, I don't see where we have a right to protest.

[Raksha]

50. Finally!!! Some common sense!

Re This is an AMERICAN STIMULUS PACKAGE. Not a "Canadian Stimulus Package" or even a "Mexican stimulus Package".

So, unless the US is cutting off ALL foreign trade, I don't see where we have a right to protest.

We HAVE to rebuild our manufacturing base if we're ever going to have an economy again. I don't mean just "green jobs" either, although I'm not knocking them by any means. I mean traditional manufacturing too. If we don't, we'll never be able to afford to buy anything from anyone. Just look what the (mostly involuntary) decline in American consumption is doing to the world economy, fer cryin' out loud!

[Matariki]

49. Is this a reaction to GM's spit-in-the-face $1 billion dollar investment in Brazil operations?

Presumably with the bail out money they got?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=114x55340