|
Written by Stumo
|
|
Monday, 10 March 2008 |
|
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.
Trackback(0)
 |
|
In the news
|
Globalization causes inequality, insecurity, wage loss, new book says
A new book by economist Josh Bivens of the Economic Policy Institute provides a compelling reason for the Obama administration and Congress to think big about how to reduce economic inequality and insecurity in the years to come: Most working Americans have suffered steady and significant income losses that stem from global integration.
Everybody wins, except for most of us: what economics teaches about globalization, released today by EPI, finds that trade flows likely cost a full-time U.S. worker earning the median wage $1,400 in 2006. This loss rivals or exceeds what median wage-earners experienced during the recession of the early 2000s. For workers on its losing end, globalization has felt like a chronic (if largely unseen) recession – one that requires a policy response as ambitious as that offered against today's very visible economic downturn.
|
|
TrackBack URI for this entry
Subscribe to this comment's feed
Ironically, Boeing was palpably unnerved in the 1980s by the thought that Indonesia (!!) aspired to build jet liners. At the time, its "industry" consisted of a raft of computers, mostly still in their shipping cartons, manned by kids barely out of high school. Simultaneously, Boeing warned US government officials that McDonnell Douglas -- then an also ran, today a part of Boeing -- was making a big mistake by outsourcing a single component to China. Today, having made its own Faustian bargain, Boeing seems shocked when the inevitable is happening: the world's largest aviation market intends to compete with Boeing and Airbus! That's not at all surprising; what's almost comical is the reaction by America's biggest chump.