President Obama to water down 'Buy American' plan - New England Patriots Forums

ljuneau · 02-03-2009, 10:01 PM

President Obama to water down 'Buy American' plan after EU trade war threat

The "Buy American" requirement in the stimulus plan brought back shades of Woodrow Wilson. This was the catalyst that started the Great Depression.

Supporting this was a big mistake by Obama, at least he now has changed his toon. Unions will be strongly upset, but it's better for the American economy to support free trade.

sdaniels7114 · 02-03-2009, 10:17 PM

When Smoot Hawley sent us pretty much over the edge we were a net exporter. Exports exceeded imports by something like 2-1. Which really makes you wonder what they were thinking back then. However that's not so today. I'm left to wonder if a bit more or even a lot more protectionism might not be such a bad thing.

mikey · 02-04-2009, 12:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ljuneau

President Obama to water down 'Buy American' plan after EU trade war threat

The "Buy American" requirement in the stimulus plan brought back shades of Woodrow Wilson. This was the catalyst that started the Great Depression.

Supporting this was a big mistake by Obama, at least he now has changed his toon. Unions will be strongly upset, but it's better for the American economy to support free trade.

He is just another lyin' politician from Chicago.

If you cannot trust him on his campaign promises, what can you trust him on??

.

PatriotsReign · 02-04-2009, 05:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mikey

He is just another lyin' politician from Chicago.

If you cannot trust him on his campaign promises, what can you trust him on??

.

I LOVE Obama Mikey...why don't you?

atomdomb · 02-04-2009, 05:46 AM

I think the "Buy American" was a good idea. It is limited to money that comes from the stimulus plan. That doesn't mean that the billions upon billions we spend on overseas goods would stop but at least the funds from this bill are going back into our economy instead of overseas economies. I am sorry to see that he buckled so easily.

***Harry Boy*** · 02-04-2009, 06:25 AM

He Backed Down

***patsfan13*** · 02-04-2009, 09:55 AM

Geez less than a month in office and he has the Euros threathening a trade war...

wistahpatsfan · 02-04-2009, 10:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by atomdomb

I think the "Buy American" was a good idea. It is limited to money that comes from the stimulus plan. That doesn't mean that the billions upon billions we spend on overseas goods would stop but at least the funds from this bill are going back into our economy instead of overseas economies. I am sorry to see that he buckled so easily.

I agree...otherwise, we're only "stimulating" foreign manufacturers and distributors of their goods. Jobs at Walmarty and Ho9me Depot are not the same as manufacturing jobs. If we are going to become something other than an exclusively service-based economy, the middle class is done. We'll be right back to where we were...making nothing and building "wealth" based on speculation, paper and debt. I have yet to hear one explaination for how repeating the same mistakes and doing business as usual is going to save this so-called economy.

ljuneau · 02-04-2009, 12:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wistahpatsfan

I agree...otherwise, we're only "stimulating" foreign manufacturers and distributors of their goods. Jobs at Walmarty and Ho9me Depot are not the same as manufacturing jobs. If we are going to become something other than an exclusively service-based economy, the middle class is done. We'll be right back to where we were...making nothing and building "wealth" based on speculation, paper and debt. I have yet to hear one explaination for how repeating the same mistakes and doing business as usual is going to save this so-called economy.

I made a mistake on my initial post, it wasn't Wilson, rather Herbert Hoover.

Here was a similar piece of legislation pushed by Hoover:

Quote:

Congress approved the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act in 1930. The legislation, which raised tariffs on thousands of imported items, was signed into law by President Hoover in June 1930. The intent of the Act was to encourage the purchase of American-made products by increasing the cost of imported goods, while raising revenue for the federal government and protecting farmers. However, economic depression now spread through much of the world, and other nations increased tariffs on American-made goods in retaliation, reducing international trade, and worsening the Depression.

Protectionism hurts our economy, period. Not only does it strongly discourage foreign countries from purchasing our goods and services, it increases the price, increasing the scarcity, and decreases the quality. Yea, it sounds and feels nice to "only buy American". But free trade has proven, thanks to history, to be very positive for our economy.