http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/26/busin ... .html?_r=2

The assembly work in California, and the pouring of the concrete road surface, will be done by Americans. But construction of the bridge decks and the materials that went into them are a Made in China affair. California officials say the state saved hundreds of millions of dollars by turning to China.

I can't help but wonder what the behind-the-scenes story is on this. Lots of questions as to why we farmed this one out: is this a materials cost issue? a labor cost issue? a qualified labor source issue? a union issue?

Your thoughts?

All of the above. I tell ya, if the gov't did what Eisenhower did for our interstate systems, we'd have PLENTY of previously unemployed system moochers with jobs (and STILL be paid by the gov't...this time for actually contributing to society!!). So much of our country's transportation infrastructure needs an overhaul/repair. Regular folks can still be trained. Most of them are just to goddamned lazy or think they're above that type of work.

That guy who "can't find a job?" I heard Subway, Micky D's, AND Taco Bell are ALL hiring. I bet between them you could get a 45+ hour work schedule- benefits or not. These folks just don't get that in dire times, a job is a job is a job.

I had an Econ professor ask us, "whats the difference between an educated person and an un-educated person?"
All kinds of answers went out, some good, some silly, but at the end of the brief discussion he said, "The educated person will take any job and work it out of necessity when the economy turns for the worst. The un-educated person is to good to work for McDonalds or mowing grass in a time of dire need."

I can't trust much in China products, even when I do buy lots of goods directly from China not because the cheaper price only but also the more advanced technology in several electronics. For example, the car video/GPS receivers sold by brand name companies in US, still using GPS in DVDs, they lack of Ipod connectors, and or similar, and cost $800.00 or more, while from China the GPS is storaged in a SD card, accepts almost all brands of GPS software, come with additional features, like Reverse camera connection, PIP (picture seen over another picture), dual zone, etc, and their cost is about $300.00.

But, I never will buy cookware from China, because in China they won't care much about what chemicals will be included for teflon or similar, and the enforcement of laws are weak enough to control this aspect of production.

There are lots of cases where products from China have been proved not only to be defective but dangerous, lets say, lots of houses in US used the cheap Chinese drywall in the past, and after a few months or years, the chemicals used in the drywall started to make dark stains on the walls, plus were corroding metal electric boxes, cabling, plumbing connections, etc. The owners had to dismantle their houses and put new drywall inside the entire houses again.

The hurry for developing a grerater economy in China, also invites them to use materials which barely pass the minimum standard, and for this reason, I wouldn't trust their products in construction means as well.

I think that California is making a big mistake trusting in construction Chinese products, so far, a friend of my family is totally unhappy with the Chinese iron, and I guess that he is not the only one so unsatisfied.

America... made in China.

Gotta respect the Chinese for being such a smart country.

They've already got their own section in the city...



...they've just migrated to the bridge now and they're making their way across the bay to Oaktown.

BusyBadger wrote:They've already got their own section in the city...



...they've just migrated to the bridge now and they're making their way across the bay to Oaktown.

Are people backing up the old blessings and curses of the past?

Chinese living in US and forming cities? Hmmm, lets see...then we are witnessing that nations like China, Japan, Korea, etc (Japheth: Yellow race) are enjoying the blessings given to Shem (White race), and some -not all- descendants of Ham (Black race) in specific the children of Canaan, being "slaves": "Cursed is Canaan, a slave of slaves shall he be to his brothers...blessed is YHWH, the god of Shem, and let Canaan be a slave to them...may god extend Japheth, but he will dwell in the tents of Shem, may Canaan be a slave to them.."(Genesis 9:25-27)

No doubt that in today's world, the nations leaders are mostly populated with White people (US, Europe), and that nations from Asia, like China (Kittim) Japan (Javan), etc, are living the way of living of Shem.

Ha, ha, ha...Just jocking....come on...Chinatown is found almost in any city of any country of the world, you can have wonton soup practically anywhere in this planet.

LawL

Quite the story, and now a new reason why I should stay away from SF.

As crappy as the work will be, a new Chinese piece of crap will be safer that an old quality piece that subsequent generations refused to maintain.

http://www.infrastructurereportcard.org ... et/bridges

Usually built to last 50 years, the average bridge in our country is now 43 years old.1 According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, of the 600,905 bridges across the country as of December 2008, 72,868 (12.1%) were categorized as structurally deficient and 89,024 (14.8%) were categorized as functionally obsolete. From 2005–2008, the number of deficient (structurally deficient plus functionally obsolete) bridges in rural areas declined by 8,596. However, in urban areas during the same time frame, there was an increase of 2,817 deficient bridges.2 Put another way, in 2008 approximately one in four rural bridges were deficient, while one in three urban bridges were deficient. The urban impact is quite significant given the higher level of passenger and freight traffic.

I was waiting for TMS to get in here. Dude, I was an Econ major and you blow my mind like every time we get into an Econ-related thread. I want to be your paduwan learner.

I loved ECON. The funny part was, when we would discuss new theories I would be in the class thinking "wait, other people figured that out too? I thought I was the only one." I've been an amateur economist since age 4.
A funny quote from one of my PoliSci instructors. "you have conservative economists and liberal economists and you call this a science?"
I've recently enjoyed the people coming back to me with a newspaper in their hand and asking about something I said a year ago then looking back at the paper and saying "f***!" and walking away despondent. Sorry, it's nothing more than casual observation and well-constructed questions.

If we don't get a s*** squared away like immediately we will see a near future where America's prominence slips away. It's not to late, but it's right now. The overhaul of our infrastructure presents the best opportunity for solid job creation, however, Americans may not want to pitch in. If every unemployed person or welfare enrollee of able body would be willing to pick up a shovel and fix our roads and bridges and power grids and rail lines and work the farms we would eliminate our unemployment problem, create financially-healthy citizens who have a little disposable income to purchase consumer goods which would them employ others and on down the line. For the future, we would have reinvigorated our infrastructure and put down the foundations for future growth technologies like green energy, electric vehicles, wireless cities, high speed rail etc.

The world has very much gotten stuck. Think of the rapid advances after WW2 and through the 80s and how we have come to a virtual stop in the new millennium. We are about to shut down the shuttle program, space exploration, something I argue is not a negotiable pursuit, has become a fun little diversion that is funded and planned as well as a teenagers' SR20 swap. We subsidize ethanol, a fuel that burns more energy to produce than it releases when burned and creates a situation where fuel and food compete for the yield of a single crop. Our kids are getting dumber by the minute and we traipse around the globe loaning money we borrowed to others when we can't cover our own bills or bombing other countries into the stone age and wondering why they don't like us very much. We spend millions on a war on drugs and incarcerate potheads while the illicit trade in marijuana actually funds the production and traffic of hard drugs and pat ourselves on the back over a beer and a cigarette. Meanwhile the industry that has effectively created a pharmacological lifestyle in this country where every American thinks they need a pill to wake up, a pill to go to sleep, and a pill to function during the day cranks on in full legality and with the complete approval of the junkies they've created.

What f*** bunny hole did I fall down? What happened to this country? When did we get too proud to work yet not ashamed to to have our lives fed to us while the leash is looped around our necks? ........

Wait, I think I kind of spun off on a rant there. What the hell was I talking about? f*** it. This post was brought to you by Xanax. Do you suffer from panic? Does the possibility of actually being involved in your own life terrify you? Would you like to drift in and out of consciousness and turn yellow while the very meaning of your pathetic, useless life drains away? Walk! don't crawl to your nearest subsidized quack who will diagnose you with some hours-old recently concocted syndrome that sounds suspiciously like being a garden variety loser, but absolves you from responsibility for being the useless piece of s*** you are while you wait in the waiting room picking your nose and eyeing the receptionist's rack, but deciding not to invest in the effort of getting up, walking over to her and trying to pretend to be interesting so you might get her phone number opting instead to masturbate later with a bag over your head. Did that sentence seem long? Did it confuse you? Then my god man, you need Xanax!