Fun facts on producing solar panels in China.  

Polysilicon, which is widely used to make solar panels, is in short supply. In the rush to make it cheaply, a Chinese company reportedly is dumping toxic waste into the ground, killing wildlife and endangering human health.

The newspaper describes green fields in the nation's eastern central Henan Province that have turned snow white from the powdery waste of silicon tetrachloride, four tons of which result from every ton of polysilicon created. Toxic hydrogen chloride gas and acids waft from the waste. ...

Silicon tetrachloride can be recycled. But manufacturers reportedly can make polysilicon about two-thirds more cheaply if they ignore environmental protections.

Oil prices are the culprit.  China's trade surplus shrank in February because of snowstorms there.  Expect them to recover and oil to continue for a double trade whammy for us.

Boeing has decided to appeal its loss of the Air Force refueling tanker contract to Northrup Grummon and Airbus. 

Keeping national defense production capability, especially with sensitive technologies, is key. As is keeping jobs from leaking elsewhere when the U.S. taxpayer pays the bill for R&D and training and infrastructure. The trouble is that Boeing fails these tests.

The company aggressively outsources. 

"We look all around the world for the best technology, the best intellectual capability, and for the best manufacturing capability in a serious effort to improve our competitiveness," says Jim Morris, Boeing's vice-president for engineering & manufacturing and the architect of the company's outsourcing strategy.

It partners with the Chinese government and sells them sensitive technology that you or I could never get away with selling to geopolitical rivals.

And predictably, a Boeing aerospace engineer, Dongfan "Greg" Chung, was charged last month with spying for the Chinese government. 

By all means, let's build the capacity to produce our defense here at home.  Boeing could certainly get on this train, but it has a lot of work to do to repair its patriotic credibility.

The fact that Boeing lost the airforce refueling tanker contract to Airbus/Northrup Grummon is still making the news. Boeing argued that awarding it the contract would be good for American jobs, which is a great claim until you realize that Boeing is an aggressive outsourcing company.

Also, Boeing may be helping arm the Chinese military.  It owns 40% of the Chinese arms contractor BHA Aero Composites Company. 

The U.S. must maintain the ability to produce its defense domestically.  But Boeing is not the poster child for our national interests, and I'll not cry crocodile tears for them.