Management 101
Add comment February 5th, 2009
Interesting view of leadership….
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/first100days/2009/02/05/graham-says-obama-awol-stimulus-debate/
Archive for February 5th, 2009
China Manufacturing Improves, are we Next?
Add comment February 5th, 2009
Improved manufacturing data from China on Wednesday suggested its downturn may be bottoming out and US employment figures were not quite as bad as forecast. See the rest here…
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2009-02/05/content_7446826.htm
More Warnings about Buy American
Add comment February 5th, 2009
TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan and Australia expressed concern on Thursday about protectionism stemming from the “Buy American” provisions in Washington’s mammoth stimulus measures aimed at helping pull the U.S. economy out of recession.
Australia warned the move to protect U.S. iron and steel makers would lead to a retaliatory trade war, while Japan sent a letter to top aides of U.S. President Barack Obama and the Senate’s majority and minority leaders echoing concerns by other U.S. trading partners.
See the rest here…
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090205/ts_nm/us_usa_stimulus_buyamerican_reaction_sb_2
Buy American Act - a Wikipedia Brief
Add comment February 5th, 2009
Note the key words…US Government to prefer US-made products in its purchases”….
“Buy American Act (BAA - 41 U.S.C. § 10a–10d) was passed in 1933 by the U.S Congress, which required the United States government to prefer U.S.-made products in its purchases. Other pieces of Federal legislation extend similar requirement to third-party purchases that utilize Federal funds, such as highway and transit programs.
In certain government procurements, the requirement purchase may be waived if purchasing the material domestically would burden the government with an unreasonable cost (the price differential between the domestic product and an identical foreign-sourced product exceeds a certain percentage of the price offered by the foreign supplier), if the product is not available domestically in sufficient quantity or quality, or if doing so is in the public interest.
The President has the authority to waive the Buy American Act within the terms of a reciprocal agreement or otherwise in response to the provision of reciprocal treatment to U.S. producers. Under the 1979 General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) Government Procurement Code, the U.S.-Israel Free Trade Agreement, the U.S.-Canada Free Trade Agreement, and the World Trade Organization (WTO) 1996 Agreement on Government Procurement (GPA), the United States provides access to the government procurement of certain U.S. agencies for goods from the other parties to those agreements. However, the Buy American Act was excluded from the GPA’s coverage.”
Source: Wikipedia
Obama a Free Trader after All
Add comment February 5th, 2009
Obama must have backed down after he saw my blog here http://blogs.e-rockford.com/manufacturing/2009/02/03/eu-warns-president-obama-to-drop-protectionist-measures/
See the latest here….
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article5655115.ece
