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The Problem with DHS's Plan to 'Buy American'
An anonymous reader points out a Cnet report on the
Homeland Security Authorization Act, which would require that more than 50 percent of the components in any end product bought by the Department of Homeland Security be produced or manufactured in the U.S., writing "The Pentagon has agreements with 21 countries that waive the act, but an amendment that just passed the House would prevent the DHS from waiving the 'Buy American' restrictions. "The president of the Information Technology Association of America observed that this means the DHS may 'have to learn to do without computers and cell phones,' since he could not think of any manufacturers of those devices that would meet the 50% threshold."
a rather stupid rulling here , If your going to run a department which deals with national security it is in your intrests to use the best avaliable .Arguments on the usefullness of the DHS aside , if they want to perform to peak effiency they must use the best the world has to offer not the best the USA has to offer.
The only things certain in war are Propaganda and Death. You can never be sure which is which though
i find it sad that our own government agencies are being forced to buy american because they wouldn't otherwise. what does that say about the american economy?
that the 'Buy American' scam is really just an attempt to protect American companies from cheaper competitors under the guise of 'security'
Do not try to read the dupe, thats impossible. Instead, only try to realize the truth
What truth?
There is no dupe
The United States manufactures primarily US Dollars. Military hardware is second to that. In exchange for these two products, other countries send everything else here.
Who the hell cares what they buy? Shouldn't we be looking at why our government and constitution has been hijacked by people with hidden agendas? It will be too late to speak up when the heel of their boot is over your mouth.
This is insane.
The sum result is that the products bought will be more expensive than they would otherwise be.
What exactly is the benefit of this? American companies benefit by having more trade? but they're *paying* for that additional trade in their taxes, because the State has to pay more to buy the more expensive products.
--
Toby
I believe it. It seems we are (sigh) again repeating history. After large battles we temporarily go into short periods of extreme isolationism of one sort or another. This seems to be one of those knee-jerk reactions. Think about when the buy American stuff started (which war was it again? umm, WWII perhaps?). And which cars do we hate the most? (other than Ford, I mean) Oh thats right.. the cars built by our greater adversaries. Ignoring good technology to punish others or to feel self righteous is only self defeating and limits your possible options. This, too, shall pass.
** "It's not my job to stand between the people talking to me, and the ones listening to me." -- Pego the Jerk
So the government can spend an extra $8 per item times how ever many items. What does that mean? That means they raise taxes to pay for it. That is always good for our economy. Sure that money is going to US companies, but it is getting taxed right back.
If we buy foreign, we SAVE $8 per item. There are two ways to look at that. There is the civilian, and the governement. The civilian ways say they need less money, so the government can send the money elsewhere (medicare, medicade, SS, military, etc.). The government way says that they can keep the same budget and spend that $8 on other things, like heated toilet seats (joking).
Either way, it is more efficient to buy foreign if cheaper. Spend the extra on little American flags to give out to anyone who calls you anti-american for voting to allow them to waive the provision. Save the flag waiving for when it matters, not pointless rules to make you look good.
Comment forecast: Bits of genius surrounded by a sea of mediocrity.
Instead of 'BUYING AMERICAN', you should focus on the core problem: Industries leaving the US.
When an industry is completely wiped out in America because of overseas tactical price gouging, one should take a hard look at Tariffs. Sure, maybe 100% of your industry shouldn't be conserved because some may not be efficient, but shouldn't you conserve at least 10% of your industry like you conserve an endangered species?
When you lose all your industry, then you're presented with the problem that the overseas people can overcharge you due to monopolistic power. But if you charge tariffs and protect weak, domestic industry then they can never get to the point to overcharge you. Indeed you actually make money for your own government on the imported goods.
God spoke to me.
Either by corporate globalization (searching for cheap labor) or "not in my backyard" syndrome, we've moved most major manufacturing out of this country (or we let it go).
And now some showoff congressman is demanding DHS 'buy American.' (Do we still make stuff here?)
What kind of hilarity can ensue? Let's see:
- corporations will move a few employees around to meet the claim of 'made in America'
- countries who make our products get pissed 'cause we're threatening their income- trade sanctions, sabre rattling, etc.
- exceptions will be made for certain countries with attendant political maneuvering. End result: almost every country will be on the exceptions list. Except the axis o' evil / 'terra' nations.
What counts as a "component"? If I sell a computer with all the screws made in the US, but everything else made somewhere else does each screw count as a component? If so that's an easy one to solve.. 20 screws, 10 other components, 66% "American Made". What if the hard drive has American transitors in it, does that count? How about if all the steel in the screws was "american" steel, but they were produced in China, are they American screws or Chinese screws? How about the Intel processor that was designed by American engineers by an American company, but produces in say Malasia?
The whole idea sounds rather stupid and vague in these modern times where everything has multiple sources. You don't even go into the whole political thing of "buying American" to see how silly the whole thing is.
AccountKiller
These policies are just stupid. Apparently, all problems can be fixed through legislation. I like what Thoreau said in his Civil Disobedience paper: "Trade and commerce, if they were not made of India-rubber, would never manage to bounce over obstacles which legislators are continually putting in their way; and if one were to judge these men wholly by the effects of their actions and not partly by their intentions, they would deserve to be classed and punished with those mischevious persons who put obstructions on the railroads."
...just my 2 gil.
As something that would hinder the DHS's ability to function, I'd support it. On another note, though. If this is an attempt to protect US industries, then it really is a desperate measure. Propping up a dead (or dying) horse only works for so long.
It's bloody true!
Any country (my own included - UK) which imposes virtually ANY form of trade sanctions, does so to protect their over-priced home produce. This perpetuates global poverty by preventing someone from competing against you.
This is a bizarre twist on trade sanctions - I'll give you that. But to demand that a certain percentage of a product is manufactured in your own country just smacks too much of trade protection.
For security? Give me a break. . .
Since the government buys their equipment using money from the US taxpayers, it seems in the best interests of the taxpayers and the country to keep as much of that money in the country as possible. Consider the following:
The US government outsources everything to companies in other countries - everything from highway construction to phone support to the IRS. Making up a number for the tax rate, call it 40%, that people pay, including the federal taxes in gas, phone service, licensing, income taxes, etc. This means that every year 40% of the countries GDP goes to another country or countries. That reduces the overall "value" of our country by that much. At the other end, if we pay nothing to other countries for services or aid or anything, the "value" of the country remains the same.
Now, I understand that this isn't realistic economically, but it illustrates the point. As a government, isn't it better for their citizens if as much of their expenditures as possible remain in the country? Yes, it is possible that buying from an outside source is cheaper, (for the nation as a whole), than buying locally. (For example, many food crops won't grow in the US and to irrigate/climate control the fields to support those crops would cost more than buying them outright from somewhere else.) However, for a few percentage points difference in the price, I doubt it, since we have to consider income taxes that the country "gets back" by taxing the workers who produce it. (Assuming all other aspects are equal.)With that said, I think it would be better overall to embrace a true global economy, so if someone in India can do a job better/faster/cheaper then they can do it. However, since we don't have a world government, and we still have this annoying habit of killing each other over things like imaginary lines on a map, I don't see any real alternative to being somewhat protective of the country you happen to reside in, whether that is the US, the UK, China or India.
Reading code is like reading the dictionary - you have to read half of it before you can go back and understand it.
Their car-pool is going to be awfully empty, after they get rid of the Mercedes, Ferraris, Audis, Jaguars,
It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
This is a really good policy actually.
People will attack it because they feel that it is isolationist.
That's kind of the point.
See, if you go to war with the country that makes a critical component that you require to fight that war (a chip needed for a radar system perhaps), you're really screwed when that country refuses to sell it to you because you're at war with them.
Unless you have a sort of strong alliance with said country, you really should be producing anything that is critical to your national defence in-house.
... "why?". The world's becoming globalized - you can argue over and over if this a good or bad thing, but it's the way it is. I also have to wonder how many electronic devices are manufactured in the USA today. Yes, even USA companies have their products built elsewhere. Thanks to that you can buy your computers, consmer and electronic gadgets at the price you pay for them now.
Is there a real motive for such a decision or it's just a "Geee, we're 100% american!" sort of thing?
And therefore it's vitally important that FIFTY PERCENT of everything is made in the US? This makes no sense whatsoever.
Agreed - I could come up with something that is 99% made in the US except for the chip that transmits keystrokes to North Korea. This is just an attempt to pass legislation that the WTO souldn't like by disguising it as security...
Try NetBSD... safe,straightforward,useful.
Yes, that's right, and those people are poisoning themselves, particularly in China. The pollution in the industrial cities is so bad that if it goes unchecked, it will, paradoxically, threaten their economic survival. Ruined land and water is no good to anybody.
Tangentially: have you ever driven on I-80 through the Rust Belt? I'm talking about former manufacturing hubs like Buffalo, Gary, and parts of Cleveland. They look abandoned. And the factories? Rusting and abandoned. It's sad, not only because of the unemployment and social upheaval, but because great swaths of that abandoned land cannot be reclaimed for agriculture. The soil and groundwater is too polluted. So the hulks of the factories remain, the rusting monuments to America's fading greatness.
Now, what's really eerie are all of the abandoned strip malls: just boarded-up buildings and weedy expanses of grey asphalt. Nearby, you find housing built in the 40's and 50's, some abandoned by the people who once made their livings in the factories, some filled with poor immigrants, others by retirees who try to keep up appearances and put out their flags on Independence Day. I'm not being lurid here, either. There are a thousand towns like this and they are depressing places. What will become of them?
"OH SHIT, THERE'S A HORSE IN THE HOSPITAL!"
This forced nationalism is strikingly similar to the conditions in pre-WWI Germnay as well. Which is something to think about.
So if a laptop is designed in the US and has an Japanese-made CPU, a Chinese hard drive, a Korean TFT screen, a Filipino keyboard, etc., etc. how do they By value? By weight? What does "Made in XXX" really mean anyway?
I think you and everyone else have missed a major point. What happens if the devices our military depends on are not developed and made in america? Two things:
1. Our military won't be able to keep up with the technical advances of other countries because we no longer produce enough engineers and scientists. All the engineers will be overseas
2. Our national defense will depend on foriegn companies selling us equipment which they may choose not to do at some point in time.
Or is it just anti-Americanism?
Now go ahead and mod me troll or flamebait for having the audacity to stand up for my country.
Slashdot "libertarians": Small government for me, big government for those I disagree with. -1, I disagree with you
I had a chat with an old farmer in New Zealand a few weeks ago. He was moaning about the high cost of New Zealand goods when trading with China due to the artificially low value of the Renmibi.
Well, duh! You think that communists are going to play by free market rules? How stupid can you get. We let China do this because we want cheap goods. But one day when we don't have indigenous industries the currency will be re-valued and the goods will have to be bought at their true prices. Look out for inflation, rising interest rates, a collapsing bond market, stocks taking a dive.
It's the Chinese seeking to overthrow capitalism from within. So much more effective than using an expensive military solution. And this way, the US doesn't see itself as under attack.
You've got to admire the plan, you really do.
If it's like DOD / Corps of Engineers contracts, the penalty is you don't get paid. When we do a Corps job, it states in the specifications you must meet the "Buy American" act. If I install foreign-made items, I have to either produce documentation confirming that the vendor is on the "exceptions" list the DOD has (which won't work for this case) or I have to replace the items.
Otherwise, the Corps won't sign off on the job and we don't get paid.
In this thread, we the +5's tend toward denouncing the US's choice to effectively do the same thing. Is there some method to the madness? I'm genuinely curious...
This is not just bad for free software, but this is a clarifying special case of why this requirement is in practice a subsidy. Things will be bought that are not required to do the job.
In addition, it should be remembered that US dollars flow back to where they can be used as legal tender. Ie: the US. Buying goods from abroad initiates the whole process of trade. But then economic and scientific illiteracy are patriotic: Americans live in a post-rational culture AFAICT.
Wikileaks, no DNS
Eventually, some bureucratic fig-leaf will emerge, e.g. the Puzzle Palace's waivers for 20+ countries.
OTOH, what sort of remark is it concerning the US that it is simply not cost-effective to make anything here anymore?
I'll try to be positive, and avoid the flamebait flogging of last week by saying: demonstrate some US-designed and built products (that don't suck), and I'll happily buy. For a company with the right marketing, it's a good opportunity.
Get thee glass eyes, and, like a scurvy politician, seem to see things thou dost not.--King Lear
...the US-House of Saud relationship was cemented by FDR and continued by his successors both D and R. Apparanty few realize that.
Free Mac Mini Yeah, it's
Consider the sugar tariffs you have in place in America becuase of your ideological objections to Cuba's existence. The result is that sugar is hugely expensive in the US. Thus, US sugar farmers (actually concentrated in a few wealthy corporations that make extensive political donations) make bucketloads of money at the expense of the ordinary US consumer. Furthermore, to avoid the sugar tarifs, most confectioners use high fructose corn syrup which is the closest thing to sugar they can find that does not get hit with the tariff. Frankly it tastes awful if you compare it with real sugar. Thus, as a result of the sugar tariffs, the US has higher prices for sugar than anywhere else in the world, has confectionary and soft drinks made with HFCS which taste awful, and enriches a few politically connected corporations as a result of it.
Now, dumping. Why should I object if someone wants to sell me something below cost? Normally you call that a bargain. If you manage to find a hard-drive below cost you would be crowing about it here. But do that in international trade an somehow its bad? Ooh, that's dumping, that's evil? You seem to presume that when you loose your, lets say, sugar industry you will be overcharged by that overseas monopoly. I hate to break it to you, but there is more to the world than "The US" and "The Rest". If you lost your domestic sugar industry you could buy sugar on the world market from any of a number of countries. Dumping is more the result of intense competition than monopoly.
Any questions?
This to me sends a bad signal: The DHS may be institucionalizing itself as a pillar of xenophobia in the US of A, and it is trying to reach well beyond its original role.
I see a potential vicious circle in the build, with DHS attracting more and more xenophobe weirdos, through publicity around acts like this, and thus becoming more and more extreme in its views. This is not going to help world peace the least, such a nationalistic movement popping up in the heart of the last remaining super power. Pity.
Quem a paca cara compra, paca cara pagará.
No no no, not true at all. Americans do make things that people want and are willing to pay big money for: overpriced houses.
It used to be that we ran our economy on manufacturing. Then we made a shift to a "service economy" which lasted a couple years before the services followed the factories. This left American capital with no way to grow. The housing bubble that we are now seeing is a consequence of that capital seeking a way to increase in an industrial economy that doesn't make anything anymore. America is no longer producing real wealth. The housing bubble is a delusional way for residual capital to continue to produce wealth, even if only for a short time.
Now we run our economy on asset appreciation, and buy all other goods and services from overseas with borrowed money. The only sector of this economy that can appropriately be called "manufacturing" is the construction industry, which has perfected the creation of grotesque McMansions that require a trip in a car just to get to the nearest grocery store. Zoning laws typically forbid anything to be built within walking distance of a McMansion, except other McMansions, so as to avoid even a momentary pause in the overall housing appreciation on which the American economy (and the property tax) depends.
Paradoxically, it seems everyone wants to live in a place where nobody makes anything anymore, and has to drive to get anywhere (like say a place that sells cheap Chinese crap or oversized food portions) because these house prices just keep going through the roof! I know people who made more money last year just living in their ugly condos than coming in to work. Careers in real estate are extremely attractive at the moment. It's a way you can still make lots of money even if your limited skills prove incapable of producing real wealth. And real estate is a magnet for investors, to the detriment of real industries that need infusion of capital. What venture capitalist in his right mind is going to invest in some factory making widgets when he can sink his capital in some pricey real estate and double his money in a few years? A bubble can often crowd out other forms of investment. Nobody wants to invest in anything but houses or dotcom stocks or tulips or whatever.
When the bubble pops, an enormous amount of housing will suddenly hit the market as speculators liquidate at the highest price. There will be lots of money flying around for a short while, then it will disappear and America will become a nation of overweight suckers who don't make anything trapped in their houses full of cheap Chinese shit paying adjustable rates with an average 3% equity position on properties that have lost 30-40% of their value since being purchased at bubble prices. And after treating the currency like a cheap whore for so long with overextended credit, we will find that the inflationary pressure on the dollar has driven up interest rates. As incomes collapse, the bond market will be flooded with T-bills crowding out private borrowing as the government desperately seeks capital at high interest to prosecute the wars that secure access to the oil markets upon which this house of cards has been built. It's awfully hard to fight wars when you don't make anything, but we have no choice when we live in houses that require a steady supply of gasoline just to be livable. The plan is to borrow forever and pray that the Rapture comes to save America and help us get out of actually paying all these loans back to the Asian banks who are now nervous about holding so much dollar-denominated American debt.
I suggest that if DHS wants to "buy American", they should station their field agents in houses in Atherton where the median house price was $2.5 million (when I hit Preview the first time, it may have gone up by the time I clicked Submit). Set up some cheap interest only loans at an adjustable rate. Tom Ridge just has to remember to "refi" every couple months and sell when the getting's still good, and the program will pay for itself, at least for now, maybe until the end of the term in 2008.
it aint nukes keeping China off our backs, we could stave them out long before they'd win any war.
To whom it may apply:
People, please remember the above sentence the next time you complain about agricultural protectionism
by other nations or their reluctance to use genetically modified&patented seeds.
To ensure future independance from foreign nations for food supply is a very good reason for a nation to
use subventions or agricultural tariffs to protect its farmers.
When China makes moves to regain control of Taiwan, we have sworn to protect Taiwan. If we uphold that commitment, will we be able to survive without Chinese goods?
I do not support in protectionist laws, on the same note I do not support in a foreign policy that creates enemies. Unfortunately, we are creating enemies as a record pace and that is likely to come to a head and we will have to deal with the fall out.
"Buy American" laws may be the most intellegent thing to have happened here for some time.
from http://www.ginaminks.com/blog/200312-index.html ...let's review his resume:
* Current President of ITAA, the IT Association of America. He speaks in this position to congress for any issue dealing with IT. It was he who cried we did not have enough IT workers in the 90s, even as older IT workers were being laid off in droves so that companies could hire cheaper, younger labor. He has close ties to NASSCOM, and promotes outsourcing as well as raising the cap on temporary visas (it appears we are once again having a *coughcough* labor shortage *coughcough*.
* Current President of the World Information Technology and Services Alliance. This group is a "is a consortium of 53 information technology (IT) industry associations from economies around the world". They believe in open markets.
* Member of the Board of Directors for ITT Educational Services . This company provides post-seconday degrees in high tech disciplines (hmmmm conflict of interest anyone???)
* Member of Virginia Research and Technology Advisory Commission. This group's mission is to advise Virginia's Governor "on appropriate research and technology strategies for the Commonwealth with emphasis on policy recommendations that will enhance the global competitive advantage of both research institutions and technology-based commercial endeavors within the Commonwealth."
* Formally, he worked for Immigration Services Associates, a DC government relations firm that specialized in immigration issues
* Was the Government Relations Director for Frogomen, Del REy & Bernsen, P.C (an immigration law firm).
* Ran his own gov't consulting firm, Harris Miller & Associates.
* legislative director to Senator John A. Durkin (D-N.H.)
* deputy director for congressional relations in the Office of Personnel Management
* legislative assistant for the Subcommittee on Immigration, Refugees, and International Law on the House Committee on the Judiciary
* Education: undergrad (degree not specified) University of Pittsburgh, grad (degree not specified) Yale.
So how are the agricultural workers linked to Miller? According to Norm Matcloff's research, Miller proudly told The New Republic back in 1987:
``I believe in interest groups and the right of interest groups to be represented, and if I can represent them on the Hill, well, I will do it,'' says Harris Miller, a former aide to Kentucky Democrat Romano Mazzoli's House Judiciary subcommittee on immigration who now has his own lobbying firm. Miller's first big client was the National Council of Agricultural Employers, a group of large growers who use migrant and illegal alien workers.
(again, can you say *conflict of interest*?)
Miller used a certain policy tactic to help his agriculural clients back then, and now he has "moved up the value chain" to help his business clients gain control of the IT labor force. Here is how it worked with agriculture:
1. Industry associations flood the media with reports of acute labor shortages
2. Worker advocates argue that no shortage exists, but they're ignored
3. Legislation to create new temporary visa program passes. Provision built into the legislation to create a national database to search for qualified American applicants.
4. Farm worker wages decrease dramatically
5. Guestworkers are abused, treated as indentured servants
sound familiar??
It should.....
1. Industry associations flood the media with reports of acute labor shortages
2. Worker advocates argue that no shortage exists, but they're ignored
3. Legislation to create new temporary visa program passes.
4. IT wages decrease dramatically
5. Guestworkers are abused, treated as indentured servants
What will it take for someone to stop this cycle? What careers are next for this elimination program?
Thanks to GPL software, China can easily achieve their stated goal.
The US however, as stated by legions of slashdotters, does not make much anymore and therefore will find it difficult or impossible to achieve its stated goal.
Is this not fairly obvious?
Akarsz Magyar Gentoo fórumot? Akkor
It's funny that you mentioned this part of the "Rust Belt". I live in Youngstown, OH and know exactly what you speak of. There are so many shut down factories all over. I was told that anyone buying the land would be responsible for bringing it up to epa standards, which is cost prohibitive. Our economy is in the shitter and only getting worse. The only thing keeping this area alive is GM's Lordstown assembly plant, that makes the Chevy Cobalt. That is our area's #1 employer, with the two large hospitals being #2 and #3.
I have a bad feeling that we are in fact ahead of the times. It seems like the entire country is gradually losing their industry and becoming some sort of empty wasteland. There doesn't seem to be any way a service and information economy can survive without producing anything of actual value.
Meanwhile the country seems to only be concerned with what will happen on next weeks "Desparate Housewives", who will win "Survivor", and who the next "American Idol" will be. And we pick our government on inconsequential issues like gay marriage, abortion, and so called "family values".
How important is all this crap if you cannot eat?
I guess that's enough ranting for one night.
Sitting at an oak table? You might want to knock on that wood. A set of degrees is just one part of your resume. Once you take that first job after you get your fourth degree, you'll be on a career path, which will determine far more than your educational background after a few short years.
I'm also surprised that you are thinking of your future based solely on what you consider to be better job opportunities in Asia. The cultural differences are, as I'm sure you know, rather stark. I would also be very interested to see if all of those humanities degrees amount to anything in societies that seemingly value technical capabilities far more than humanities education.
Regardless, I hope your prediction is true, but I would look on the degrees as a foot in the door, not as a ticket to the good life.
Read the EFF's Fair Use FAQ
This isn't a partisan issue. I don't know whether the US-Saud relationship was politically wise under FDR given what they knew back then and given what the world was like back then. What I do know is that over the last 20 years, it has become increasingly clear that it is incompatible with US claims of advancing democracy and freedom around the world.
If the current president still doesn't know that continuing the US-Saudi relationship on these terms is a mistake, he is either stupid, or has a financial interest in the relationship that keeps him from doing the right thing, or both.
There was lots of whining about the Chinese government was mandating Chinese software only for government use.
How is this any different?
Oolite: Elite-like game. For Mac, Linux and Windows
Not believing poor old Colin Powell after he'd been lied to?
That's insulting?
Watch this Heartland Institute video
Thanks for turning this into a partisan issue. Good job. The entire debate has been improved because of your ridiculous attempt to point out that another political party is just as pathetically corrupt as the one that is currently in power. I salute your blind political idolatry.
you are confusing 'made in america' with 'american companies manufacturing overseas'. Go take a good look at where the actual fabrication facilities are located, and you'll see that your chipset, cpu, and memory dont qualify.
I hear all sorts of people complaining that we're not doing enough!
We go somewhere, people complain, we don't, they still complain.
World politics are messy, but sometimes I think that invasion is the only way to clean somewhere up. I would have taken out Iraq better than 10 years ago.
I figure that the only reason Bush used the WMD argument for going into Iraq was because that was what the Europeans would go for. I figure that we went in because it was a humanitarian nightmare, we had forces tied up just guarding the border, he was flaunting the sanctions, the oil for food program was a joke because of all the corruption, and Bush didn't want another Cuba hanging around for decades.
I'll say this: 99.9% of the starvation in the world today is political in nature. And yes, I consider most war political in nature.
I don't read AC A human right
American Cell Phone Company buys cell phone part pre-assembled from China for $20 and battery from Korea for $10, then does final assembly here and charges $61 wholesale to the gov't.
Actually, you are pretty close although you are looking at cell phone prices after rebates. More likely scenario: Halliburton buys a cell phone for $200 from nokia, sanyo, erickson, etc. Then they add a US manufactured Halliburton label and charge the govenment $500. Now it is 60% US made on a value added basis. Or maybe they add one of those totally ineffective US made battery booster labels. If they want to be a little less blatent, they pay to have a custom plastic case with a metal ALISA clip (instead of the plastic clips that break once a month) molded and claim the higher cost is due to the phone being military/law enforcement spec and customized. Or they pay a machine shop to machine the case out of magnesium and charge the government $1000. Or, perhaps they need shoe phones in the fight against shoe bombers.
Also, while it is very difficult to make a device that has 50% of semiconductors made in the US (even though there are 133 semiconductor fabs in the US), you can still can get bare circuit boards made in the US and have assembly done in the US. It will cost more but driving up the US cost significatly while slightly lowering the foreign cost helps you satisfy the US requirement. It is even getting harder to know where chips are manufactured. None of the semiconductors on the last two boards I designed are labeled as to their country of origin, due to the small size of the surface mount parts.
One thing that does make it more feasabile to use 50% US made components is the fact that those parts which are made in the US are the more expensive parts. $0.14 logic gate chips are made outside the US but many high end CPUs, Memory, and possibly FPGAs are made in the US. Embedded CPUs are probably mostly foreign made but if you slap a Pentium 4 in your cell phone (and a car battery to power it) you could meet the US made critera. Or add an FPGA based encryption chip to the phone.
Almost all of these more complicated approaches actually would boost the local economy so they will probably go with the $300 Halliburton label since in contributes nothing to the actual economy but lines the pockets of corrupt corporations and goverment employees.
mod this way up.
Our cozy relationship with the Israelis is one of the main reasons we're targets for terrorists.
And by the way, not wanting to support the Israelies does not make one anti-Semitic.
The game of chicken continues until one of two things occurs. (1) Other countries pull out of the US. A cascade effect occurs and the world is in a depression. (2) Other countries don't pull out and slow, steady inflation causes US foreign debts to be effectively erased.
There's a number (3): the world economy gradually loses its dependency on the US economy, then other countries pull out of the US, and the rest of the world is just fine. This is what I think will happen over the next fifty years.
I'm not very familiar with economics, but I think that another reason for overpriced housing is the fact that banks have virtually no restrictions on who they're lending to. My understanding has been that you need at least 10% of the purchase price for a downpayment, preferably 20%, and you need to have good credit to get a good interest rate. These days, ANYONE can get a loan with practically nothing down and still get a good interest rate regardless of your credit history.
I don't have any of these issues - I have excellent credit and I can now afford a 20% downpayment on a house that was priced reasonably (a few years ago), but with today's housing prices that same amount I have for a downpayment is only about 5% of a house that isn't as nice.
Can anyone with an economics background provide some insight? Will banks ever tighten up their lending standards, and if so would that help adjust prices to a more realistic level?
I'm also concerned about these interest-only loans that people are getting. A friend of mine only owed about $100K on his house in California, but got it appraised recently for $350K so he took basically took out a second mortgage and bought himself a $70,000 car, a $40,000 car, took a bunch of expensive vacations, bought some big screen LCD TVs, and wasted his money on a bunch of other luxury goods. He's only paying the interest on the loan, which is about $1000 a month. I know he's not alone - MANY people throughout the USA are doing this. I know another guy who makes $40,000 a year and somehow managed to buy a $500,000 house. I simply can't understand how this is possible. Interest-only loans for the first few years are great, but what happens when you have to repay the principal?
Again, a question for the economists: Will housing prices drop once these interest only loans expire and principal has to be repayed?