Not only that, I heard they are going to have their own city in Idaho.
"Calif. getting ‘impressive’ bridge, made in China" by David Barboza, New York Times / June 26, 2011
SHANGHAI — Talk about outsourcing.
At a sprawling manufacturing complex here, hundreds of Chinese laborers are now completing work on the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge....
The assembly work in California, and the pouring of the concrete road surface, will be done by Americans. But construction of the bridge decks and the materials that went into them are a Made in China affair. California officials say the state saved hundreds of millions of dollars by turning to China....
Money that wasn't spent here building up our infrastructure.
China, in its continual move up the global economic value chain — from cheap toys to Apple iPads to commercial jetliners — now aims to be the world’s civil engineer. On the reputation of showcase projects like Beijing’s Olympic-size airport terminal and the mammoth hydroelectric Three Gorges Dam, Chinese companies have been hired to build copper mines in the Congo, high-speed rail lines in Brazil, and huge apartment complexes in Saudi Arabia.
In New York City, Chinese companies have won contracts to help renovate the subway system, refurbish the Alexander Hamilton Bridge over the Harlem River, and build a new Metro-North train platform near Yankee Stadium. As with the Bay Bridge, US union labor would carry out most of the work done on American soil.
American steelworker unions have disparaged the contract by accusing the state of California of sending good jobs overseas and settling for what they deride as poor-quality Chinese steel. Industry groups in the United States and other countries have raised questions about the safety and quality of Chinese workmanship on such projects. Indeed, China has had quality control problems ranging from tainted milk to poorly built schools.
But executives and officials who have awarded the various Chinese contracts say their audits have convinced them of the projects’ engineering integrity. And they note that with the full financial force of the Chinese government behind its infrastructure companies and the monumental scale of the work, the prices bid are hard for private industry elsewhere to beat.
At $7.2 billion, the Bay Bridge will be one of the most expensive structures ever built. But California officials estimate that they will save at least $400 million by having so much of the work done in China. (California issued bonds to finance the project and will look to recoup the cost through tolls.)
Yup, ONCE AGAIN it is the SAME OLD STATE SHENANIGAN of GOING INTO DEBT!
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California decided not to apply for federal funding for the project because the “Buy America’’ provisos would probably have required purchasing more expensive steel and fabrication from US manufacturers.
Maybe you can toss that pink slip off the bridge on your way home, American.
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