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A national manufacturing policy? A wacked out idea that only an Olympia Snowe (my senator, unfortunately) and a Lindsey Graham could find attractive. All this is is more government interference in the economy to the benefit of favored constituencies (read: unions) and industries (read: green jobs) at the expense of the taxpayer. Haven't we learned anything from the real estate and banking debacle that can be laid directly at the feet of government?
Listen: The U.S. became a manufacturing powerhouse without the help of Soviet-style central planning. It lost its edge largely because of government regulation and union greed that made manufacturing in this country no longer profitable. Get the government and the unions out of the way and manufacturing will return. Case in point: foreign car companies building factories in this country to outcompete domestic manufacturers because they didn't have to contend with the cost of union labor.
What these ten senators are proposing gives bipartisanship a bad name.
Manufacturing is leaving because of corporate greed.
Companies would rather pay someone in China or India $15 a month versus someone in the U.S. $15 per hour. Just greed.
I would gladly pay more for products made in the U.S. if it meant more of my fellow Americans will be gainfully employed.
The Big Three lost out because they failed to produce the cars Americans want. They are playing catch up with developing fuel efficient cars they should have been producing years ago.
Based on all the stupid bipartisan wrangling on this forum, I would hope that CD posters could at least see that moving beyond bipartisanship would be a healthy step for this country. But no, forget it, nobody really cares about the health of the nation. We'd rather argue about how stupid the "other side" is, effectively inflating our own hatred, ego, blood pressure and stupidity.
President Obama also got bi-partisan support on his Afgaganistan policy today in the house overwhelmingly.Left wing democrats put forth a bill to require him to withdraw from Afganistan and it was soundly voted down. It was a big boost for his afganistan policy.When C-span broke away form the vote it was like 57 democrats for and 5 republican with over 300+ against the forced withdrawal.
Since they lifted healthcare from the other side why stop there?
"But despite Green backlash against the Obama administration's apparent embrace of "drill, baby, drill," it's actually another Republican energy plan Obama should turn to if he wants to make a real dent in America's dependence on oil.
Under the GOP proposal, put forth by House Republicans in June 2009, 90% of the federal share "of the revenues created by OCS exploration would go to a renewable energy trust fund to pay for a variety of renewable, alternative and advanced energy programs." This "American Renewable and Alternative Energy Trust Fund" would be dedicated to efforts accelerating the development of clean energy technologies that can truly help end America's oil addiction."
This is not the kind of the bipartisanship the admin wants, but it is one the country desperately needs.
"To the chagrin of bankers and the White House, they could win some votes as the Senate this week begins considering amendments to a bill that Obama and lawmakers promise would prevent a repeat of the financial collapse two years ago, which set off the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.
All those ideas could win support from some Republicans, many of whom have repeatedly maintained that no financial institution should be too big to fail. One of the intellectual forces behind the ideas is Simon Johnson, an economics professor at MIT. Variations on these and stronger measures also have been endorsed by Thomas Hoenig, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City.
Johnson counters that the Brown-Kaufman proposal would result in U.S. banks of $100 billion to $300 billion in total size. "Those banks would run rings around big, bloated, stupid banks in the rest of the world," he said."
I'm usually critical of the US Chamber of Commerce but on this position, I applaud them.
"The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Department of Labor announced a joint effort on Friday to assist members of the military transitioning to the civilian workplace, a difficult adjustment made harder by the sagging economy.
The alliance is an unusual one: The Chamber has promised to spend tens of millions of dollars in 2010 to defeat Democratic candidates in the midterms and the White House has been harshly critical of the Chamber for working with Republicans to block its agenda in Congress. The two haven't cooperated in a major way since the stimulus passed in the first weeks of the administration. A Labor Department aide said that the government will work directly with state and local chambers of commerce, which are less politically charged than the national organization. "
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