Re: POTUS 45.5 - Sweden is Under Attack
I did not see the address. I only saw brief commentary on my Twitter, on here, and some random news articles this morning.
One I was was NPR's discussion of Trump's "Buy American" stance. (
http://www.npr.org/2017/02/27/51749...ign=npr&utm_term=nprnews&utm_content=20170228)
The issue I have with this, and obviously I'm 390% behind any initiative that puts funding towards transportation infrastructure, is that for federal/state jobs (partial federal/state funding, full federal/state funding, handover to federal/state, etc) there already ARE some pretty hefty "Buy American" clauses in these contracts. Most contractors already source these American materials because they've done it for so long that they know the process, and can get American produced products without hassle.
These contractors work on such tight profit margins that any overhead by the home office to try and source cheaper materials from elsewhere is a waste of time and money which negates the price difference.
This is the "answer in search of a problem" that hiring someone who has never done public works projects would create. How many of Trump's privately funded buildings within the US are made with Canadian, Mexican, or Chinese steel? How much of his building components are from those same three nations?
Another issue NPR raised was that there are exemptions possible under the current "Buy American" rules to allow for specialty items not produced in the US, foreign products available as such a discount that it would significantly change the cost to buy an American made identical item (significant change is generally +10% of the budgeted item cost per our state spec). Will these exemptions still be available?
Following the exemptions, NPR also mentioned there seemed to have been a vague statement that eluded to also forcing companies to use US built construction equipment. Favoring Caterpillar, John Deere, Komatsu, Ingersoll Rand, and other US made equipment over foreign made equipment. Which, again, most everyone involved in civil construction already uses due to the ease of repair.
It's frustrating that such a hypocrite who utilized foreign made products to build his empire is forcing an industry he knows nothing about, who already does the things he's going to require, to do something he never has.
But "Rah, Rah, USA," eh?