SocraticGadfly: A Chinese New Deal for the US?

October 15, 2010

A Chinese New Deal for the US?

Over at Salon, Andrew Leonard has an infrastructure wet dream. The gist is that, if Congress won't appropriate, and Obama won't seek, massive infrastructure project stimulus money, let's get Beijing to plow a bunch of its massive monetary stockpile back into our country.

Well, aside from protectionist-type issues, which Leonard does mention, there's a huge flaw or two in this. And, anybody who thinks about the dingy skies in most of China, the slipshod factories there, and other things, knows it right away.

As I Tweeted to Leonard, and here with a touch more expansion, China wouldn't build U.S. infrastructure per U.S. EPA, OSHA, wage/overtime and other standards. It's an elementary mistake on his part.

Beyond that, they wouldn't build the products here, if they could avoid it. The steel for bridge girders would all still be Made in China.

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