U.S. steel companies press for Buy American plan

"WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. steel companies urged congressional leaders on Tuesday to maintain a strong "Buy American" provision as part of a final economic stimulus bill sent to President Barack Obama.

The plea came as major U.S. exporters like Caterpillar and Microsoft pushed for either eliminating or substantially weakening the measure, which they say would raise the cost of public works projects funded by the stimulus bill and send a protectionist signal to the rest of the world.

Canada, the European Union and other U.S. trading partners are also closely watching congressional negotiations on the Buy American plan, which would give preference to domestic steel companies and possibly other U.S. manufacturers.

"Procurement of competitively priced steel products and specialty metals from competitive domestic sources will not cost the U.S. taxpayer more," the American Iron and Steel Institute said in a letter to congressional leaders.

"It will in fact generate payroll and income tax returns to the U.S. government as a result of stimulating American jobs," the steel companies said, adding the United States has various Buy American provisions on the books for years without causing a trade war...."

news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090...buyamerican

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So why did President Obama choose Diana Farrell to join his administration as deputy director of the National Economic Council and deputy economic adviser when ... she supports outsourcing quite strongly?

Diana Farrell: Is Obama the Offshore Outsourcing President?
Submitted by Robert Oak on Wed, 02/04/2009

"Yesterday Obama nominated the most notorious offshore outsourcing Senate advocate, Judd Gregg, for Commerce Secretary.

Today global labor arbitrage and offshore outsourcing expert, expert, Dr. Ron Hira, spells out the hidden multinational corporate offshore outsourcing agenda in an op-ed, The Obama administration promotes outsourcing:

"We know from a recent EE Times survey that offshoring is the No. 1 career concern for EEs. The Obama Administration has been in office just a few weeks now, but we already know how it will address the offshoring of engineering jobs.

It will promote it."
www.economicpopulist.org/

- Look at this:

"Exploding the myths of offshoring: Far from damaging the economy of the United States, offshoring should enable its companies to direct resources to next-generation technologies and ideas—if public policy doesn't get in the way.

JULY 2004 • Martin N. Baily and Diana Farrell

"Far from damaging the economy of the United States, offshoring should enable its companies to direct resources to next-generation technologies and ideas—if public policy doesn’t get in the way.

Article at a glance:

The debate over the offshoring of US business-processing jobs misses the mark. Any short-term disruption from job losses must be weighed against not only the much broader benefits to consumers and businesses but also the disastrous consequences of resisting change. If US companies can’t move work abroad, they will become less competitive—weakening the economy and endangering many more jobs—and miss the chance to raise their productivity and to concentrate their resources on the creation of higher-value jobs.

The take-away:

Research by the McKinsey Global Institute quantifies the benefits of offshoring for the US economy and debunks several myths. Rather than debating whether offshoring is good or bad, businesses and policy makers should be thinking about how to help its victims."
www.mckinseyquarterly.com/Explo...g_1453

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