steel

As GOP Primaries Numb Your Brain, Congress is Up to More Tricks

clockworkorganbraineyedropsWhile inane campaign rhetoric lulls you to sleep, forcing you to watch reruns of shipping wars until your brain melts and flows into that puddle of lost dreams and promises, Congress has been up to some things.

Remember those outrages du jour, such as using Stimulus funds to hire foreign guest workers? Remember your hard earned taxpayer dollars being used to bring in Chinese foreign workers and Chinese steel to build the Oakland Bay Bridge in California?

A very important amendment passed the Senate and was entered into Bill S.1813, MAP-21, alternatively known as the Transportation Bill. The amendment strengths the Buy America provision by closing a loophole.

Senator Sherrod Brown on the Senate Floor:

Buy American

By now you would have to live in a cave to not experience the blow back in the simple act of buying U.S. steel. This is the Buy American provision in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

This is not even the real issue. The question really should be why are not U.S. taxpayer funds to be used first and foremost to create jobs for U.S. workers?

Banks receiving massive U.S. taxpayer funds are firing U.S. workers while keeping temporary foreign guest workers. Why? Because they are an important conduit to offshore outsource and they are cheaper.

Democratic Convention - Energy & Healthcare, What about Manufacturing? - Open Thread

Just out of curiosity, tonight I just started watching today's DNC, missed the first hour (6pm CST).  So far I've heard a ton about healthcare, and Steny Hoyer has said something about jobs. Well, actually, right now, Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm, who is doing a question and answer session using a panel. She's actually specifically mentioned industrial jobs. The theme so far in the questioning is that clean energy will equal more jobs.