Importing work, exporting jobs

Recently, ABC News reported on the rebuilding and building of bridges in America: $400 million to rebuild the Alexander Hamilton Bridge in New York, $7.2 billion to add a span from San Francisco to Oakland, and another bridge in Alaska to the tune of $190 million.

Great projects requiring a lot of hardware and many hands to construct. Should add thousands of jobs and it does – all in China. These projects were bid by and awarded to Chinese construction firms. The reason given was they could do it cheaper. The San Francisco-to-Oakland span was even constructed in China and shipped to the Bay Area in pieces. Does this make any sense to you with a U.S. unemployment rate above 8 percent? It wouldn’t make any sense if the unemployment rate was under 4 percent! But that isn’t all.

The recently dedicated statue of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was sculpted in Chinese stone by Chinese artist Lei Yixin. This country seems to be upside down when it comes to making any sense. There is controversy over one of the quotes engraved on the MLK statue, but what I object to is: “Made in China.”

John Miller

Spokane Valley