Councilman
DP Veteran
- Joined
- Apr 25, 2009
- Messages
- 4,454
- Reaction score
- 1,657
- Location
- Riverside, County, CA.
- Gender
- Male
- Political Leaning
- Conservative
China builds bridges with America
AT A sprawling manufacturing complex in Shanghai, hundreds of Chinese labourers are completing work on the new San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge.
Next month, the last four of more than two-dozen giant steel modules complete with roadbed segments will be loaded onto a huge ship and transported 10,500 kilometres to California.
The assembly work there, and the pouring of the concrete road surface, will be done by Americans. But California officials say the state saved hundreds of millions of dollars by choosing to have the bridge decks made in China
At a sprawling manufacturing complex here, hundreds of Chinese laborers are now completing work on the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge.
Next month, the last four of more than two dozen giant steel modules — each with a roadbed segment about half the size of a football field — will be loaded onto a huge ship and transported 6,500 miles to Oakland. There, they will be assembled to fit into the eastern span of the new Bay Bridge.
The project is part of China’s continual move up the global economic value chain — from cheap toys to Apple iPads to commercial jetliners — as it aims to become the world’s civil engineer.
If this report doesn't get you pissed off about states and private companies outsources work on our roads, bridges, rail systems and traffic tunnels to China of all places, nothing will!!!
Wait 'til you read this!!
Un-freakin-believable!!! :2mad:
How can this be?
Simple if it were built here and Federal funds were used a Federal Law requires all the work using Federal funds must be preformed by Union workers.
California found they could forgo Federal funds, have some of the Bridge built in China, shipped here and it will still save the State money.
Thanks Federal laws and Unions, this cost a lot of jobs and money that would have helped the economy here.
This is going to be a great addition to the Bay. I lived in the area for about 8 years and was stuck on the old bridge more than once, and one day I could hear the cables on the span humming in a stiff wind I would have sworn the whole suspended span was swaying. Pictured is the new East Span.
Moderator's Warning: |
Yeah, why pay fair working wages when you can subsidize with Chinese slave labor.
First of all I didn't vote for this contract.
Next had I been part of decision I would have voted for it, because it makes economic sense in a State where Unions have contributed to a very disproportionate amount of the massive budget problems.
Then we come to the myth of unions having fair wages. They use threats, intimidation, and coersion to force employers like the State of California to pay unreasonable, unsustainable, wages and benefits until they go broke. Which is where we are right damn now.
Unions are a problem at every level of Government and should be outlawed.
Saving the Tax payers of my State half a billion dollars is worth pissing off a bunch people who are in truth part of the reason a contract with China was so attractive they had no other choice that made any sense at all.
It also saved every tax payer in the Nation money because the Federal funds were never used.
This was a win, win, win,decision all around as regrettable and distasteful as it was to make.
By the way. Because of this kind of contract China has a fast growing middle class, and they are not slaves.
Another often overlooked point is that someone making $10K in China is equal to someone making $50K in the US. Chinese Things aren't just cheap for the rest of the world, they're cheap for the Chinese that live there, and make them.
Tim-
I have no issue with private sector unions as long as any laws/regulation by government is fair for both sides. However, I DO have a problem with public sector unions in that, as many have indicated in the past, my biggest contention is in how the system by its very nature is corrupt. The people making the decisions for contracts are the very same people that got their job because of union activism. One could say the same thing about private business to some extent, that's why, I suggest a new system, a system that does a better job of lessening the impact of corruption in both private and public sector contributions. Why not have a system that annonymously, or by lottery select citizens to vote on, or sit in on collective bargaining agreements? We do it now in the legal system, ordinary people decide the fate of many criminals, are we to be less trustworthy in deciding how our tax dollars are spent?
Tim-
How can this be?
Simple if it were built here and Federal funds were used a Federal Law requires all the work using Federal funds must be preformed by Union workers.
California found they could forgo Federal funds, have some of the Bridge built in China, shipped here and it will still save the State money.
Thanks Federal laws and Unions, this cost a lot of jobs and money that would have helped the economy here.
This is going to be a great addition to the Bay. I lived in the area for about 8 years and was stuck on the old bridge more than once, and one day I could hear the cables on the span humming in a stiff wind I would have sworn the whole suspended span was swaying. Pictured is the new East Span.
There was a time when we needed unions. That time has passed. We have many laws in place to protect people in the work place these days. Why do we NEED unions any more?? Looking for honest answers here.. lol...
There was a time when we needed unions. That time has passed. We have many laws in place to protect people in the work place these days. Why do we NEED unions any more?? Looking for honest answers here.. lol...
China's open check-book has not been welcomed by all. 'Free Tibet' protesters shadowed Wen's tour.
More widely, human-rights organizations say the situation in China has worsened since pro-democracy protests erupted across the Arab world.
"China has actually moved back significantly. The human rights situation in China has not been this bad in a decade probably, if not more," said Sam Zafiri of Amnesty International.
An example, says Zafiri, is the detention of artist and political activist Ai Weiwei who was arrested in April, allegedly for tax evasion. Along with fellow activist Hu Jia, he was released just days before Wen Jiabao's tour of Europe.
"There are dozens of activists, lawyers, dissidents who are facing even greater restrictions on their ability to speak," Zafiri added. "So the Chinese government clearly responds to outside pressure… the myth of a China that is somehow immune because of its economic clout is just that, a myth."
There was a time when we needed unions. That time has passed. We have many laws in place to protect people in the work place these days. Why do we NEED unions any more?? Looking for honest answers here.. lol...
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