"Air Force Looks to China When American Manufacturing Falls Short"

[Vergil]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/04/20/air-force-american-manufacturing-china_n_851752.html

You folks might frown that its from Huffingtonpost, but some of their articles are really good (can't be worse then mainstream). I have to say, this story made me a little pissed. I don't know what to say besides we use to build shit in this country. I was reading the comment section and saw this:

"The Chinese have total control of our military.

Here in the northwestern part of the country, they have come through and boughten most of our mines, timber, and cattle, all of which go right back to them or sold on the open market to Japan (who pays big here in Montana).

The Chinese buy up any raw materials they can and horde it (similar to the diamond market), and sell to the highest bidder. In our case, they come over to our country (where we are indebted to them somewhere in the upper billions (if not trillions?) and buy our mines from us, then use it for their own needs. Meaning all we get is a few jobs out of the deal. Then we go and buy our own raw materials from them that they mined in our mines.

We are stupifying ourselves!"

[acptulsa]

"We are stupifying ourselves!"

You found that on HuffPo? That gives me a glimmer of hope.

[tangent4ronpaul]

HuffPo was just sold and under new management

[Vergil]

You found that on HuffPo? That gives me a glimmer of hope. Yes, thankfully there are people out there that don't form their thoughts solely by what their politics and peers say. Alot of people can't think on their own.

[eduardo89]

Our military is at the mercy of the Chinese. For so many components we rely on rare earth metals, which China has a virtual monopoly on, many electronic components are at least partly made there and a lot of the basic parts to machines and vehicles are made there too...

[Texan4Life]

wow "buy American"? lol how much money was wasted looking for American made products and not finding any. THEN having to do some sort of "investigation" to confirm the findings. would have been a lot faster/cheaper to stroll into the local home depot and get what they needed.

but it is the military/gov so I'm not surprised.

[Carehn]

wow "buy American"? lol how much money was wasted looking for American made products and not finding any. THEN having to do some sort of "investigation" to confirm the findings. would have been a lot faster/cheaper to stroll into the local home depot and get what they needed.

but it is the military/gov so I'm not surprised.

Check out economics in one lesson. Its not all that wonderful to buy american if its not the best product. It does more to harm this country.

[sailingaway]

Oh man, no quality control issues there....

Aerospace was chased out of California by insane environmental regulations.

[jbuttell]

Oh man, no quality control issues there....

Aerospace was chased out of California by insane environmental regulations.

Not that i dont believe that was likely a major reason, I've heared that Lockheed released a lot of nasty chemicals into the ground water around the old Burbank facilities... hopefully that isnt happening at newer facilities....

its a shame aerospace is barely a shadow of its former self here in LA... regulations probably actually allowed a substantial percentage of that poison to legally spill into the groundwater.

The movie/film industry is following close behind.

[HOLLYWOOD]

On a brighter note on US government... :rolleyes:

Obama used $1 Billion of our Tax Dollars to buy Russian MI-17/21 helicopters for the Afghan military over the past 9 months. Washington DC is the bastion of Hypocrisy and Theft.

[Vergil]

Oh man, no quality control issues there....

Aerospace was chased out of California by insane environmental regulations. The Chinese government has heavily favored economic growth over the environment. Western transnational corporations were fine with this, despite the health hazards posed to factory workers. I recently saw a story on PBS talking about the eastern Chinese city of Suzhou, where factory workers say they've been poisoned by exposure to a toxic chemical called N-hexane while working at an Apple iPhone assembly plant. China is an example of the human costs of such rapid industrialization.

I think there should be concern here in the west about the chemicals China uses in their products. Clearly Chinese manufacturing has a track record of chemicals that pose a threat to human health.

[Anti Federalist]

Normally, I would be up in arms about something like this as well.

But if it's going to build critical parts for the Empire's war machine, then, great, go for it.

Like a Death Star made by Jawas.

[daviddee]

...

[daviddee]

...

[acptulsa]

And when we discover they've built a switch into each component, and all they have to do is send the correct coded signal and shut down whatever is within range? More than possible. A proverbial 'monkey wrench' is possible too. Chrysler had to redesign its engine computers in the mid-'80s because when a cop keyed his radio the cars stalled.

Nothing like spending trillions on armaments that one potential enemy could conceivably shut down right in the field.

[Anti Federalist]

And when we discover they've built a switch into each component, and all they have to do is send the correct coded signal and shut down whatever is within range? More than possible. A proverbial 'monkey wrench' is possible too. Chrysler had to redesign its engine computers in the mid-'80s because when a cop keyed his radio the cars stalled.

Nothing like spending trillions on armaments that one potential enemy could conceivably shut down right in the field.

The first $#%^*()*%$##&*()(^$%#@@^ piece of shit computerized Detroit Diesels that I ran, that had the DDEC system in them, the port main engine would stall every time you keyed the mic on VHF channel 13, 73, and 09.

That's when I knew we were in trouble, and that was back in 1993 or so.

Take one of the most reliable engines ever made and turn it into a cantankerous computerized piece of shit.

That was only the warm up for what we have now, light bulbs that don't light, toilets that won't flush and washing machines that won't wash.

[daviddee]

...

[Texan4Life]

Check out economics in one lesson. Its not all that wonderful to buy american if its not the best product. It does more to harm this country.

yeah that's why I was making fun.

[Anti Federalist]

And this is where China has succeeded. They have fed the average American's lust for cheap crap. More stuff. I need to fill my home with more stuff. If you can provide that stuff, cheap, so I can buy more stuff... I will be so stuffin' happy.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtX3yZmzfUU

[libertarian4321]

at Eielson Air Force Base in Alaska. As workers tried to build a few stimulus-backed housing units, it became apparent that a number of simple domestic items couldn’t be procured from American manufacturers – namely, ceiling fans, shower rods, towel racks, toilet-paper holders, and all manner of screws and fixtures.

This ain't avionics or weapons systems, folks. Its the kind of crap you find in bins at Home Depot. Yeah, most toilet paper holders are probably made in China.

So freakin' what? This is hardly a threat to national security.

[Southron]

This ain't avionics or weapons systems, folks. Its the kind of crap you find in bins at Home Depot. Yeah, most toilet paper holders are probably made in China.

So freakin' what? This is hardly a threat to national security.

I might agree, but this keeps coming to mind: "For the want of a nail"....

[acptulsa]

This ain't avionics or weapons systems, folks. Its the kind of crap you find in bins at Home Depot. Yeah, most toilet paper holders are probably made in China.

So freakin' what? This is hardly a threat to national security.

Which is why they can admit it in public. Now, why should we believe this isn't only the tip of the iceberg? And for the record, I'm not saying the latest avionics fits are soldered together in China. But where do the components come from?

No, this isn't proof that national security is compromised. Just proof they now consider it standard operating procedure to unlock a door that used to stay locked 24/7.

[Anti Federalist]

This ain't avionics or weapons systems, folks. Its the kind of crap you find in bins at Home Depot. Yeah, most toilet paper holders are probably made in China.

So freakin' what? This is hardly a threat to national security.

No, some critical weapons systems parts are made, in part, by convicts.

But then again, what's the difference?