This post may be venturing off into “rant” territory, which is largely uncharted water for me. But an article in yesterday’s Wall Street Journal about the negative impacts that the Buy American Clause is having on some of the very businesses it’s supposed to help shows the fallacy of drafting government policy-by-marketing-slogan.
The Journal tells the [...]

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As we’ve discussed before, the recently enacted ‘Buy American’ clause was expected to have global ramifications if the proposed measures to supply public sector stimulus projects using domestically produced steel came to fruition. As we expected, the Buy American clause has been modified as the US was pounded by pushback from other nations. But, even [...]

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Battle lines have been drawn in the fight over carbon emissions. Late last month, the US House of Representatives passed the Waxman-Markey Bill, which in addition to an infusion of R&D money would create a cap and trade system for carbon, giving away 70% of the available carbon credits while auctioning off the remaining 30%. [...]

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As the G-20 Summit officially kicks off today under a typical layer of London fog (comprised of economic storm clouds and tear gas), the topic of protectionist policies are certain to dominate trade discussions. Although I suspect many of the assembled leaders are truly “free traders” caught up in populist political pressure to protect jobs [...]

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Industries asking for a piece of the economic stimulus package are frantically making their case to Congress, the President, the media and the general public. And although the package still has to go to the Senate for them to modify, the largess in the bill passed by the House of Representatives Wednesday will likely dole [...]

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