22. The Best Enemy Money Can Buy.
A British company is going to build five nuclear reactors in Communist China (who openly declares the U.S. as their #1 enemy) - and the U.S. gov't is paying them $5 billion of our tax dollars to do it (unconstitutionally, of course). You'd almost think the Bush administration was trying to build up our avowed enemy on purpose.
We've been doing similar things to build up Russia for the past few decades, now it's time to send our resources to China so they can take our markets, our technology, our jobs, and consume resources so our costs will have to be greatly increased. This decision greatly benefits China, obviously. It will also benefit Britain, sine American taxpayers will shoulder the risks instead of them.
http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/02/28/business/nuke.html
U.S. backing bid for China reactors
By Matthew L. Wald
The New York Times
March 1, 2005
WASHINGTON Westinghouse Electric was to present a bid to China on Monday for building four large nuclear reactors, backed by a pledge of nearly $5 billion in financial assistance from the U.S. government that Washington hopes will give the company an edge over competitors from France, Germany and other countries.
The French nuclear energy group Areva has joined a three-way bidding contest to build the four nuclear reactors for China. A spokesman for Areva, Charles Hufnagel, confirmed on Monday that Areva had lodged its bid in Beijing.
AtomStroyExport of Russia was also expected to meet a deadline Monday to make bids with China National Nuclear.
The deal, approved on a preliminary basis by the Export-Import Bank on Feb. 18, is almost three times larger than anything the bank has offered before. And while it would stimulate employment in the United States, the price would amount to about $1 million per job, raising objections from some critics.
TG: It would have to create some incredibly high paying jobs just to offset the cost. That's not considering the fact that we're still helping strengthen our enemy.
The deal also appears to benefit the British government, which owns Westinghouse through BNFL, formerly known as British Nuclear Fuels.
"If the risk were not falling on the Ex-Im bank, it would be falling on the British government," said Peter Bradford, a member of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission from 1977 to 1982. Bradford said he opposed what he called a subsidy to a foreign company and what he said was support by the commission for Westinghouse's sales efforts.
"Jobs really aren't what this is about," he said. "What it's about is protecting the investors in the company making the bid, and here, there is only one investor."
TG: Why is the U.S protecting a foreign investor that is investing in aiding our enemies?
Representative Dennis Kucinich, a Democrat from Ohio who is a frequent critic of the bank, said: "The bank is funded by U.S. tax dollars. They should be supporting U.S. companies. I'm not against U.S. jobs, but shouldn't we be for U.S. companies?"
Kucinich said the deal could also eventually hurt the export of technology from the United States because China had said it wanted to build many more plants and take over the manufacture of plant components, many of which are now made in the United States.
TG: A liberal Democrat is the one who speaks out in favor of protecting America? Where are all the patriotic conservative Republicans?
BNFL's other business enterprises in the United States have met with mixed success. The company had a contract in the mid-1990s with the Energy Department to build a factory in Washington State to solidify liquid nuclear wastes in glass, but the two entities had a falling out over costs and other factors.
This month, BNFL and the Energy Department settled a long dispute over BNFL's performance in cleaning up former nuclear weapons sites in Tennessee and Idaho.
A spokesman for Westinghouse, Vaughn Gilbert, said by telephone from the company's headquarters, near Pittsburgh, that the proposal to build the Chinese reactors represented about 5,000 jobs in the United States because components, including the instrumentation and control systems, would be manufactured there. The reactor vessel and the steam generators, the largest parts, would come from other countries.
We've been doing similar things to build up Russia for the past few decades, now it's time to send our resources to China so they can take our markets, our technology, our jobs, and consume resources so our costs will have to be greatly increased. This decision greatly benefits China, obviously. It will also benefit Britain, sine American taxpayers will shoulder the risks instead of them.
http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/02/28/business/nuke.html
U.S. backing bid for China reactors
By Matthew L. Wald
The New York Times
March 1, 2005
WASHINGTON Westinghouse Electric was to present a bid to China on Monday for building four large nuclear reactors, backed by a pledge of nearly $5 billion in financial assistance from the U.S. government that Washington hopes will give the company an edge over competitors from France, Germany and other countries.
The French nuclear energy group Areva has joined a three-way bidding contest to build the four nuclear reactors for China. A spokesman for Areva, Charles Hufnagel, confirmed on Monday that Areva had lodged its bid in Beijing.
AtomStroyExport of Russia was also expected to meet a deadline Monday to make bids with China National Nuclear.
The deal, approved on a preliminary basis by the Export-Import Bank on Feb. 18, is almost three times larger than anything the bank has offered before. And while it would stimulate employment in the United States, the price would amount to about $1 million per job, raising objections from some critics.
TG: It would have to create some incredibly high paying jobs just to offset the cost. That's not considering the fact that we're still helping strengthen our enemy.
The deal also appears to benefit the British government, which owns Westinghouse through BNFL, formerly known as British Nuclear Fuels.
"If the risk were not falling on the Ex-Im bank, it would be falling on the British government," said Peter Bradford, a member of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission from 1977 to 1982. Bradford said he opposed what he called a subsidy to a foreign company and what he said was support by the commission for Westinghouse's sales efforts.
"Jobs really aren't what this is about," he said. "What it's about is protecting the investors in the company making the bid, and here, there is only one investor."
TG: Why is the U.S protecting a foreign investor that is investing in aiding our enemies?
Representative Dennis Kucinich, a Democrat from Ohio who is a frequent critic of the bank, said: "The bank is funded by U.S. tax dollars. They should be supporting U.S. companies. I'm not against U.S. jobs, but shouldn't we be for U.S. companies?"
Kucinich said the deal could also eventually hurt the export of technology from the United States because China had said it wanted to build many more plants and take over the manufacture of plant components, many of which are now made in the United States.
TG: A liberal Democrat is the one who speaks out in favor of protecting America? Where are all the patriotic conservative Republicans?
BNFL's other business enterprises in the United States have met with mixed success. The company had a contract in the mid-1990s with the Energy Department to build a factory in Washington State to solidify liquid nuclear wastes in glass, but the two entities had a falling out over costs and other factors.
This month, BNFL and the Energy Department settled a long dispute over BNFL's performance in cleaning up former nuclear weapons sites in Tennessee and Idaho.
A spokesman for Westinghouse, Vaughn Gilbert, said by telephone from the company's headquarters, near Pittsburgh, that the proposal to build the Chinese reactors represented about 5,000 jobs in the United States because components, including the instrumentation and control systems, would be manufactured there. The reactor vessel and the steam generators, the largest parts, would come from other countries.
posted by T.G. at 3:23 PM
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