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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."
The Saudi Arabs already did. They bought their American -- George W.
Sad but true.
Haven't you heard, Americans are above making things. Our hands might get dirty like.
Congress is just out of it, like always.
- Adam L. Beberg - The Cosm Project - http://www.mithral.com/
I don't own a single piece of electronics that was made in the US. Infact I don't know anyone who owns any american electronics. Do such things even exist anymore?
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
No need to worry about this. DHS will just have the regs changed to mean that 50% of components by weight must come from within the US. Then they can just add lead weights to every computer case and cell phone housing manufactured in the US, to allow all those patriotic manufacturers to make some scratch off the war on terror.
9/11! NEVER FORGET!
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.
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
What about things like uniforms? I know most cheap bulk clothing is manufactured in East Asia.
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.
Well I've been to india and in the police office they are not aloud to use non-indian stuff.
True, they are not aloud.
They are very quiet about it.
Don't tell anyone.
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.
Guess they'll go cold this winter - no oil and gas from Canada for Homeland Security...
Oh well, what the hell...
With the way that America is today, anything like this would end up as a flop. We like things cheap and fast, and this would makes things expensive and slow....
I see no way that this would help our 'security'. I think the last thing we need is our goverment to spend time and resources comming up with this, when they could be doing something more useful.
I mean, if components are assembled in the US from 100% imported subcomponents, does that make them foreign components or US made components.
For example, every chip on a motherboard could be made in Taiwan, but if the board itself is put together in the US then who made it?
Their agendas aren't hidden at all...
I'll turn into a supernova and burn up everything. Well I'll turn into a black little hole and you'll turn into string.
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
Dear Quoran,
I know how you feel.
Sincerely,
US Constitution
I work for a department of the NIH--the National Institute of Health. I have been closely associated with some large computer purchases, and I can tell you that, over a certain dollar amount, we must also source from US manufacturing plants.
The details of how this works aren't 100% clear to me--but I believe that major manufacturers have a manufacturing plant for just this purpose, although I don't know if they serve any other gov't institutes besides the NIH.
I can tell you that we can purchase Dell, Apple, and HP following the US sourcing rules. While it does indeed complicate the bidding process, it's not impossible. I would imagine that the DHS would tap the same resources; in fact, their use of these resources might drive down the prices for all gov't buyers who are currently constrained by this rule. The more the merrier.
The fact that you can't purchase "Made in the USA" computer goods at Best Buy really has no relation to the purchasing power of the US gov't.
--
$tar -xvf
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)
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.
By value, it's over half American-made.
If 51% mass is the problem, bundle it with an American-made car battery and charging device.
You may think this is funny but crazy rules call for crazy workarounds.
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
... "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.
Macs are manufactured in california for the different government boddies that require made in america.
This forced nationalism is strikingly similar to the conditions in pre-WWI Germnay as well. Which is something to think about.
The three in the rack across the hall from me are from Mexico.
Apple's original Macintosh motherboards were made in the USA and the units were assembled here. Not sure where the components were made. Don't know about today's Macs, but someone else mentioned XServes are made in USA.
With any manufacturing process, "made in" is only meaningful on a step-by-step basis. Frequently, commodity parts may be multiply-sourced so one lot of, say, a power supply, may contain an XYZ capacitor from country A and another may contain an equivalent capacitor from country B.
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
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.
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...
apple pie
The eternal struggle of good vs. evil begins within one's self.
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
I am not the first person to point out here that very few electronics are made in America anymore. But I would like to point out that many people in America don't understand this, and that it is kind of counterintuitive and that various otherwise intelligent people's inability to understand this is causing some bad economic mistakes to be made all along the line.
I was born in 1979. I still remember when items like televisions, VCRs, Microwaves and the like were luxury items. For people born earlier, especially in the depression, the idea that goods like these often are literally not worth the space it takes to store them. Many people don't understand that televisions and stereos are mass produced in countries like Taiwan that 20 years ago were third world countries, and that Japan is past us in technology, Taiwan is pulling even, and countries like Malaysia are waiting to catch up.
The micro and macro effects of these are causing big ripples in our economy. If the pricing of housing goes up, and the price of consumer goods stays the same, what does that do? If you own an independent electronics retailer, and you sell televisions and stereos at 100 dollars each with a 10 dollar profit, how many do you have to sell to afford a standard 300,000 family home?
And, if the US is running a 60 billion dollar a month trade deficit, what is it going to sell to make up for that? Heavy manufactring used to be our bread and butter, but we would have to export (for example), 600 million tons of steel a month to make up that deficit. Pretty much the only thing the US has a clear edge in manufactring these days is commercial aircraft. But the people who are making economic policy don't realize this just because it contradicts their experience when they were growing up.
Okay. I have had my say.
Hopefully I didn't put any [] around my words.
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.
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.
Even those products stamped "Made in USA" may not meet the DHS criteria.
For example, most (all?) Dell desktops are assembled in the US. Dell maintains factories here, whith US workers to put together the "custom-configured" hardware they're so famous for. (Dell laptops come from overseas like everyone else's.)
The components they assemble, of course, are all from overseas. The cases, motherboards, drives, memory, power supplies...almost always imported. The criteria in the bill specifies >50% domestic components, so they don't qualify.
...that you hold quite a few degrees in BS.
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
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
Where did you get your economics degree? Perhaps you ought to consider asking for your money back.
m ance.html)
...
Here's is the shocker: China does not run a large trade surplus. (Serious, it's very very small, and was in '04 only slightly in the black.) Now, the numbers "experts" give you tell you that the US ran a $160bn trade deficit with China in the year to April '05. But that is against an overall trade surplus of just $26bn (which, trust me, isn't a lot of money when it comes to surpluses and deficits.)
(For details on China's trade performance, check this http://www.uschina.org/statistics/2005tradeperfor
But this is not relevent: China imports as much as it exports. It just happens not to import a lot from the US. It does however import a lot from Germany (which, along with Japan is the world's largest manufacturer of capital goods). So, China has a trade deficit with Germany, and a trade surplus with the US. Now: go to Germany. Who do they buy from? Well, lets start with the US. Germany imports a terrific amount of software and financial services from the US.
So: money goes US -> China -> Germany -> US ->
(Now, this isn't great if you work in the manufacturing sector in the US, and your job goes to China. But it is great if you're selling fund management products to the Germans.)
Here's another shocker. Between 1998 and 2005, the US lost 2m manufacturing jobs (while, it should be noted, manufacturing output rose). And those jobs went to China, right? No. China lost 15m jobs. Yes, you heard that right fiftenn million manufacturing jobs were lost. (The result, I should add, of moving from an inefficient state system to a marginally more efficient private system.)
Anyway: the point I make is a simple one. Focussing on bilateral trade surpluses or deficits is stupid. You have to look at the system. You also have to remember that those trade deficit/surplus numbers are vey bad at capturing so called "invisible" exports, such as financial services.
Cheers,
Robert
--- My dad's political betting
Also, didn't the story break a while back about China demanding that their computer suppliers "buy China" only? Funny thing is, I don't see them having a problem keeping up their commitmenmt.
I agree on your point on senseless real estate appreciation and have been making similar comments myself for years. Houses do not appreciate, they depreciate; the damn things fall apart. The land may, however, may appreciate in value if it is in a popular area (i.e. a city). I always thought that real estate appreciation was a scam concocted by real estate agents to offset their commissions. If every time you sold your house it sold for the same price that you bought it for, you would be out $10,000 in commissions. This would make you seriously look at why you are paying $10,000 for a (usually incompetent) agent. Fortunately, appraisals are done by real estate agents; often not the agent selling the house but a buddy. So, you jack up the appraisal of the house by at least the amount of the commissions so you don't pay too much attention to why you are paying five times as much for a real estate bimbo to sell your house as you would a surgeon for life saving surgery (the hospital will make up the difference, though). Did the seller do any remodelling or redecorating? Add the cost of that (plus some) to the appraisal as well. Never mind that they buyer will probably have to spend more money undoing the "improvements".
These real estate idiots are way behind on using technology and actual information to sell houses. A few now offer panoramic camera views. A large number of people who buy houses do so in a different city than the one they now live in and those that live in the same city have better things to do with their time than shlep around to houses that could have been ruled out with a real estate bimbo who insists on showing houses during customers working hours. Hire some architecture students to draw up a decent floorplan/3D model of the house, take pictures that are linked so you can select any view of each room from the floorplan, and photograph, catalog, and test all ethernet, phone, cable tv, and electrical outlets including which circuit breaker they connect to. Real estate agent incompetence and the constant stream of disinterested potential buyers traipsing through also severely impacts the lives of people who live in rental property which is being sold to a new landlord. Give people decent virtual tours at their convenience and then let them visit the house only if it is really one of their top candidates.
Besides making real estate agents among the top ten overpaid professions in America, housing is not affordable to those entering the housing market. When the baby boomers, who bought their first houses for realistic prices before appreciation ran amok under favorable loan terms, die off the bubble will have to burst.
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
Speaking as one from the country that's the third largest recipient of US investment (Ireland), I say "HAH HAH"!
Actually, our government may be bad at running our country in some ways, but they are sly devious conmen when it comes to business and attracting industry/multinationals to Ireland.
After all, despite the massive US interest - they account for something like 20-25% of businesses in Ireland - although that's a lot, that means we've a lot more companies that aren't from the US! It also means we've an insane amount of outside investment overall!
And our government continues the slyness by picking up on trends and getting the Chinese interested in setting up shop here (our entire local government for my area went over to China with representatives from practically every major business in the province, along with the Prime Minister! Largest trade delegation ever from Ireland). And we've had the Chinese premier in my little backwater city too.
At some point Ireland may have to examine her ethics, but hey, all these people have money, so... Bwah hah hah.
All the benefits of being in the EU without the sluggish economy and massive unemployment seriously rocks.
Come to Ireland while you can. Just don't go to the insanely expensive Dublin - one of the highest cost-of-living places there is. Go to Cork or Limerick. Galway's nice but doesn't have so much industry.
And due to unbalanced regional investment a two-hour car trip brings you to undisturbed quaint and beautiful real Irish countryside, with traditional lifestyles! (Yes, we nab a disproportional amount of tourists as well as all the industry. Nice one! Keep coming!)
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Forgive me if my arguments weren't well-structured. To clarify, I argued that tariffs harmed Chrysler by shielding them from real market competition, thereby making them uncompetitive when "foreign" manufacturers like Honda and Toyota chose to subvert the tariffs by moving their production closer to their intended market, that is, to the U.S. So U.S. tariffs are bad for American workers and the long-term health of their company, in this instance.
Then, I said that the remaining (other) industries in the U.S. are at a disadvantage in the export market due to foriegn protectionism. To be sure, this is an unjust situation that should have been strenuously negotiated years ago among all parties, and to a state of affairs everybody could tolerate. Japan has been obtuse with the U.S. over imports, but India and China have been unrepentently protectionist. For their part, U.S. manufacturers saw dollar signs in the early 90's and shifted production to Mexico, then, when Mexican labor costs rose too high, to the Pacific Rim countries. The U.S. companies that weren't elite, high-end manufacturers like computers, defense, and aerospace, and chose not to relocate, have largely been bought out or driven to bankruptcy.
So, what I was trying to make clear was that tariffs, both foreign and domestic, have been bad for the United States. Without hesitation and without meaningful public debate, U.S. politicians have in recent years entered into lopsided trading agreements that place U.S. industries in many categories at an insurmountable disadvantage. Simultaneously, our foreign partners have agreed to placate our insatiable consumption of their goods by extending us such infinite levels of credit that default and hyperinflation can be the only outcome. Given the grotesquely distorted balance of trade between the U.S. and it's exporter/creditors, I wonder if our economy is not intentionally being demolished by the global trading cartels, with the connivance of "American" politicians, in order to reestablish the U.S. along authoritarian lines (thing China) as a low-wage manufacturing center. Or a fiefdom, if you will.
But to tie up this thread, which began as a discussion of the DHS "buy American" scheme, and it is a dastardly scheme in the cynical New Deal tradition, because it dangles a promise of increased job security for a lucky few in the manufacturing sector, be they lowly workers or well-connected elitists, in an effort to bolster the public image of a state security bureaucracy, that is, an agency intended to protect the people who own the factories from the people who work in the factories. It's like the Cheka launching a "Buy Soviet" campaign.
"OH SHIT, THERE'S A HORSE IN THE HOSPITAL!"