I as a conservative, always have thought of the Chamber of Commerce on our side and advocated for them and I think in some ways it does but in this specific case it's baffling why they would oppose a Buy America incentive. Why would they do that, you may ask?
They have members that are multinational corporations that do business around the world and this country made a decision about 30 years ago that the most efficient allocation of capital was to moved many of the means of production to other countries. It was cheaper to buy from China but now we that vulnerability is being exposed.
It's not just China anymore India Germany Japan a lot of the key ingredients and components for all kinds of things from Tylenol all the way to pharmaceuticals and and even in the electronics realm those components even if we make the final product here we depend on those countries for those components and they're hoarding them, they're holding on to them because they need them to deal with the downturn and because their factories have been closed due to the Coronavirus which has revealed that industrial-strength is a key component of the national security of any country.
Efficiency has been the reason given for the migration of our entire production throughout this country. You know I could be more efficient by putting my kids to work in my basement weaving rugs but no I send them to school because it's a good thing so if efficiency is your only goal then maybe you're gonna miss the target. Yeah? Capitalism will always find the most efficient allocation of capital but from time to time the most out of the most efficient allocation of capital it's contrary to our national interest so the fact that we are dependent on China for rare earth minerals it's not in our national interest.
The fact that we can't make basic pharmaceuticals because they make all the ingredients in china is not in our national interest and it is in those instances where government and policy leaders have to stand up and say this is a vulnerability we can't allow. The bottom line is we don't win World War two if we can't turn car factories and appliance factories into munitions plants and tank makers. We don't win that war. The industrial output is a critical component of our national security and we're learning it the hard way right now.
