The daily digest of Twin Cities culture | Secrets of the City

China's Mom does let them do it, and as wacko as Bachman can be she is dead right in this article. I heard her talking on the radio the other day about the same thing and when they said it was Bachman I about died because she was making such sense. How will we be able to compete with a country that has its energy costs a fraction of ours? Drive your little prius's and ride your bikes all you want. Corporations which drive economies and give the majority of us jobs NEED energy. Cheaper energy gives them a distinct advantage, and with this cap and trade bs we will have a huge competitive disadvantage.

What pisses me off the most about Bachmann's piece is that she first says that climate change is all hype and not based in science. Then she says it will KILL THE ECONOMY but doesn't provide any real analysis, except some evidence from the Heritage Foundation, a completely biased group, and then says we just shouldn't do anything because it doesn't limit China at all. All of her arguments are completely full of holes. Said before and still true: Michelle Bachmann is Batshit Crazy.

There is no way the US will be able to compete in manufacturing goods regardless of energy concerns. If your job doesn't rely on either providing a service that cannot be outsourced such as a bartender or nurse or involves creative solution solving your job will likely be done by someone in India, China, or Indonesia within 10 years.

Well, that first part might have been a little over the top.

it's important that we set ourselves and our children up to have a clean environment. because if the economy keeps heading in its current direction, we're all going to be living in the woods.

she may have a point in there somewhere, but I can't get past Bachmann's habit of leaving a bag of flaming dogshit on my doorstep:

However, like the subject of this bill, global warming, the legislation has been the subject of considerable hype and little hard-nosed analysis.

quite the contrary, actually. Her people are the ones stressing hype over analysis.

Then I'll move to the free and capitalist China where liberty abounds.

You're allowed to comment. You're not allowed to troll. Apparenlty, you can't tell the difference, so maybe you should just head on over to Little Green Footballs, where they adore people whose only ability to communicate is to make unsupported partisan attacks.

You've been warned a million times. Don't act all shocked now that you've gone from a short leash to no leash at all.

We should not be competing with China or India for easily exportable jobs (not including software development). We should be competing with Europe for high skill and precision manufacturing jobs. But that would require more of a commitment to education than many policymakers in the US have the stomach for.

I think you're both right.

Yes.

I'd rather buy local stuff that is made of high quality than the poisonous shit from China that was built on the backs of slaves while raping the environment.

If that is your belief, then you should only buy "local stuff that is made of high quality." But, why should the government enact a tariff on foreign goods if you've (and presumably others) have made a free market-based decision to only buy locally produced products? Tariffs generally seem to have a very negative unintended consequences on the businesses and individuals.

I've got to agree. Tariffs are a spectacularly bad idea. Personally, I think the best approach for the U.S. would be to put together a confederation like the E.U. -- an A.U., if you will. I'm pretty damn sure we can't compete in the long run, otherwise. NAFTA and CFTA are a half-assed approach to that. We need to be whole-assed.

Vlad04, not to be a China apologist, but keep in mind that the U.S. was one of the first horrendous polluters and made spectacularly shoddy goods during the first several decades of its industrial revolution. And to this day we pollute and have all sorts of manufacturers spewing crap into the air. China is in the infancy of its manufacturing boom. It takes time to grow into responsible manufacturing and a quality over quantity mentality.

Hell, U.S. automakers have had 100 years and they still don't quite get it.

As long as Americans insist that they won't spend $1 more than necessary for a pair of jeans at Wal-Mart, et al., you'll continue to see US manufacturing jobs move off-shore and overseas. It's the same mentality that only blames oil companies and OPEC for high fuel prices when, in fact, it's the falling value of the dollar (brought about, in part, by our ridiculous spending habits) that counts for most of the dollar-increase in the price of crude in the past five years.

Re: dollar currency exchange rates. I like to use this example to illustrate the impact of a falling US dollar:

In 1977, a plate of beef curry in Tokyo cost 400-yen. In 2007, a plate of beef curry in Tokyo cost 600-yen. That's a 50% increase in 30 years. Nothing to complain about. It's still a cheap meal for college students.

However, in 1977, US$1 = 300 yen. In 2007, US$ = 100 yen. Therefore, that plate of 400-yen curry went from costing the equivalent of $1.40 to costing $6.00 ... a 500% "increase" ... but ONLY if you're paying for it with 2007 US dollars.

That's how far the "mighty dollar" has fallen, folks, and it just keeps sinking.