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Manhattan Subway Deal Goes to China State Firm: Giving it All Up To China Makes No Sense
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I am one who favors a constructive partnership with China in solving many of the tough global challenges out there -- and believe that Zachary Karabell is right that the two economies' fortunes are fused together for some time, and policy makers need to get their heads around what that means.
What it does not mean is spending very large sums of American government-tied stimulus money hiring Chinese state firms to do work inside the United States. This is a time when US and Chinese interests must put US workers back to work.
When the world economy was flagging in 1997/1998, Lawrence Summers, Timothy Geithner, and Alan Greenspan helped fuel a US consumption bubble to keep the good times going in China and Asia more broadly. Now, China should realize that the key to future global prosperity is rebalancing its economy -- and consuming US manufactured products and services.
But today, we learn that a $100 million Manhattan subway project has gone to a Chinese state manufacturing firm, China State Construction Engineering.
Here is the lead:
China State Construction Engineering Corp, the largest contractor in China, has bagged a subway ventilation project worth about $100 million in New York's Manhattan area, marking the construction giant's third order in the United States' infrastructure space this year.The contract was given to China Construction American Co, a subsidiary, the Wall Street Journal quoted a source as saying.
"The new project, along with the $410-million Hamilton Bridge project and a $1.7-billion entertainment project it won earlier this year, signals China State Construction's ambition to tap the American construction market," said Li Zhirui, an industry analyst at First Capital Securities.
Li, however, said the order came as no surprise as the US government is spending massively on infrastructure projects.
The three orders only account for about 4 percent of the value of its total orders this year, Li added.
I hope that the next time Michael Bloomberg has a press conference, one of the media will ask how this policy is defensible at a time when American jobless rates continue to surge.
President Obama will be hosting in December a "jobs summit". This really should be on the docket for review.
-- Steve Clemons
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Reader Comments (14) - post a comment
Besides the fact that this contract should have gone to an American firm, one hopes that Chinese engineering and craftmanship isn't as substandard in quality as the shit China is selling our box stores, especially hardware. Its absolute garbage.
But hey, I guess we gotta reward them somehow for selling us poisonous plywood, baby food, pet food, and sheet rock.
Thanks for speaking turth to power on this topic, Steve!
@ PissedOffAmerican
My Macbook and iPhone are all performing really well.
If you try to buy stainless steel fasteners, nuts and bolts, you will find that about 10% are out of spec from any package. I headed up purchasing for a US semiconductor machinery manufacturer and found this time and time again. The "low cost" product was actually much higher in cost when rejections were contemplated.
Steve is right about the contract. Why should American tax incentives go to non-American firms? Free trade is a good idea, but not this kind.
It seems that the Obama Administration is not
walking the talk afterall....
There is this tendency to do things FIRST & QUIETLY too.....
THERE IS NO DECENCY ON THEIR PART & NO HONESTY !
Being in Joint-Venture with any country/company
is not wrong; TELL & GIVE YR REASON(S)....
DON'T CATCH PEOPLE OFF-GUARD !!!
SOMETHING IS NOT RIGHT, tho....
WHY DO THIS TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE....?
WHY TO FOREIGNERS?
THE TRUST ON THIS ADMINISTRATION IS DIMINSHING
FAST.....
THERE IS NO REAL HONESTY ON LEADERS NOWADAYS..
MODERN-DAY LEADERS COMES IN WITH ALOT MORE OF
'BULLs' & CONs....
There is probably a good reason this went to a Chinese firm instead of an American one -- they were cheaper!!! Why on earth would you want to screw taxpayers and have more money spent to accomplish the same task? That is economically backwards.
Or maybe all of you disagree with me and exclusively wear US-made clothes, drive US-made cars, drink wine and beer only made in the US, use TVs and DVD players only made in the US, etc. etc.
Render unto me a freakin' break.
Everything seems to be going in the crapper with the Obama administration. Either he has sold out or been told about how things will be or else. This is not the Obama I voted for nor the Obama that wrote the books I read. If nothing else this is a slap in the face to workers and taxpayers footing the stimulus bill in order to enrich Chinese interests. In short read "The Art of War" by Sun Tsu and it will reveal and explain much of what China is doing.
Colin
Being "cheaper" doesn't make it better. As we have seen over and over again things made in China are more often inferior than similar items made here or just about anywhere else. Not only that, many of the products coming from China are faulty and dangerous. I call your attention to the problem of drywall made in China releasing corossive gases in homes. Your homeowners insurance is not going to cover it. How about the baby crib recall? These are two to hit the media in the past 30 days. The only way to please people like you is to lower everyones standard of living to third world status and let the politicians, bankers and business owners live like kings. Sorry but no thanks.
If you're concerned about Chinese dominance of the consumer goods market, why not encourage your local school or college to take part in the COOLXmas competition? Through this not-for-profit educational project they can find out where most consumer goods come from, and then start debating the issues like outsourcing and globalization in the classroom. Some might even become more interested in the US starting to make things again.
I don't know about elsdwhere in the nation, but in California high school shop classes are becoming virtually non-existent. For myself, I did well enough academically in elementary school, but by junior high and high school, academics bored the shit out of me. It is through high school shop and art classes that I discovered an aptitude, an enjoyment, and an ability, to design, create, and manufacture. Many kids that used to be "saved" by the trades are no longer offered any doors for learning. They are pushed out into society as failures academically, with no manual skills to fall back on. It is definitely has a corrosive effect on American manufacturing and technological innovation aqnd inventiveness.
If you feel like Road Runner, watching Wiley Coyote-Bankers go off the cliff, say "beep-beep".
If China rebuilds America- they will keep it.
Is this intended to repay our debt to China?
I hope they do a better job on the subway than they do on all the Chinese broken crap I got around my house. They put lead paint on our toys, they poison our pets, put poison in the baby formula and our wonder government gives them our construction work. Typical government logic.
Just WHERE are the unions on this?! They are the ones that pushed
for OBAMA and socialist democrats! They are the ones that are
supporting ILLEGAL ALIENS as UNION members! The UNIONS don't
give a damn about the US worker...just where the money comes
from.
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