Bipartisan bill would stop government from buying Chinese items

[Ed Barrow]

Source: The Hill

A bipartisan bill introduced Friday would prohibit the federal government from buying Chinese products and services until there are changes in trade policy.

"When China fails to play the rules, U.S. tax dollars should not be used to buy Chinese-made products," said bill co-spondor Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio). "American workers and manufacturers can compete with anyone in the world, but they deserve a level playing field."

China must stop manipulating its currency, stop massively subsidizing production and start opening its markets, Brown said in a release.

"Despite being a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO) for 10 years, China prevents American and other foreign companies from bidding on Chinese government contracts through an indigenous innovation program," Brown said in a release.


Read more: http://thehill.com/blogs/on-the-money/domestic-taxes/104229-bipartisan-bill-to-stop-government-from-buying-chinese-products

[county worker]

1. Where are we going to get our bullets and uniforms to fight the two wars we are in?

Hell we borrow the money we spend on them then pay interest to them to boot!

[ironic name]

4. Slave labor from prisoners, of course

[denverbill]

2. Ha. Love most of the comments at that site.

This is the first decent bill that could actually make an impact on jobs here. It's re-friggin-diculous that we borrowed $700 billion for a stimulus program and have to let Chinese firms compete for the contracts.

These are OUR tax dollars, and they should be spent in our country.

If Chinese citizens want to pay taxes for their own stimulus program, let them.

[ironic name]

3. If this happens (it won't)

Then Bangladesh or Taiwan or some other Asian nation will become America's new source for exploited labor.

[nolabear]

5. What is the "bi-partisan" of which you speak?

Oh, I've heard tales from long ago, but they're just mythology, I'm sure.

[SocialistLez]

6. I have my doubts about it passing but I fully support this bill.

May I also add, even if China is playing by the rules, the U.S. government needs to buy U.S. made goods.

[demosincebirth]

7. It should be passed...all of the frame work on the new Oakland span to SF is

shipped in from China. How many steel jobs would that have created in the U.S?

[AdHocSolver]

8. China is not the problem. They do NOT force US corporations to buy their products.

When the U.S. government stops making it more profitable for U.S. corporations to close American factories and import practically everything we buy from cheap labor countries such as China, then we won't be in horrendous debt to the rest of the world, and Americans will have jobs again.

China can "stop manipulating its currency, stop massively subsidizing production and start opening its markets" and it won't help the U.S. economy one bit so long as corporations make huge profits by importing everything Americans buy.

The U.S. can NEVER export enough goods to compensate for the huge amount of everyday products that we import, because countries like China can produce anything that we might sell them more cheaply in their own country.

The ONLY solution that can work is for the U.S. to place import quotas and import duties on everyday goods so that American companies that want to produce goods here in the U.S. with American labor can compete with the multinational corporations that import almost everything.

Corporate buzz words like "free trade" and "global economy" are a total fraud. They are not valid economic terms.

China has a booming economy BECAUSE they limit imports through quotas and taxation. An economy can only function when local production is supported. Export helps an economy only when goods sold for export represent surplus production beyond what is produced for internal consumption.