Obama approves additional $12 mln for Da Nang dioxin cleanup (Agent Orange in Communist Vietnam!)

Thanh Nien News, the tribune of Vietnam’s Youth Association ^ | August 27, 2010 | Nguyen Phong

[2ndDivisionVet]

US President Barack Obama has approved US$12 million for an ongoing project aimed at cleaning up dioxin that has contaminated the soil and water in and around the Da Nang Airport.

The announcement was made by congressman Eni Faleomavaega (D-American Samoa) on August 26, during a three-day visit to Vietnam.

Faleomavaega's visit was aimed at discussing the two countries’ relationship, including cooperative efforts to mitigate Agent Orange contamination in Vietnam.

Last year, the Obama administration dedicated $3 million to dioxin cleanup efforts in the central city of Da Nang, where the airport was listed by scientists as one of several “hotspots” throughout the country.

Da Nang Airport was once used by the US Air Force as a base of operations. During the war, US forces untold quantities of defoliant chemicals loaded onto planes to be sprayed over the countryside.

It is believed that US forces sprayed over 12 million gallons of defoliats in Vietnam throughout the course of the war.

The chemicals were meant to deprive Vietnamese forces of "food and cover." The campaign ended up having long-term effects on US soldiers and millions of Vietnamese civilians.

The substance has been linked to increased instances of birth defects and at least 12 chronic diseases - including Spinal Bifidia and several types of cancer.

[DoughtyOne]

And that’s just the trade deficit. Imagine what the whole ball of wax is. I don’t honestly know, but it has to make the deficit look small in comparison.

The dollars we spend in China, could probably float ten million jobs. Not too worry, this is ever so much better. /s

I mentioned the term ‘multiplier effect’ in the last post. That’s because when $1 dollar is spent here, it is respent by the person making the sale. He has to buy new supplies, pay salaries, pay rents, leases on equipment... Then those suppliers and receivers of his spending, pass it on again.

If were talking about $1 trillion in purchases from China, that one trillion would be from $3.5 to $7.0 trillion in trickle on (or whatever you want to call it) economic activity in the U. S.

We could easily be talking about $10 to $20 trillion dollars in economic activity each year, lost to overseas purchases from China. China is benefiting from this economic activity in it’s economy instead.

So not only are we contributing to the decay of our economy, but we’re also contributing to the militarization and adventurism by China.

You know this, but I’m interested in others seeing the concept, so I responded like this.

Thanks for the mention. This has been an important issue for me over the last 15 years or so.

[2ndDivisionVet]

We’ll get it back in a few years after “Tungil” or reunification.

[Stonewall Jackson]

I just had an interesting conversation with one of my coworkers about this a few days ago. He's a retired economics teacher who works at my store part-time because he's bored at home. He ran with the thought that we get half of the manufacturing jobs back from China and then got into detail about the snowball effect this would have on the economy.

The factories would have to either be upgraded or totally rebuilt; untold thousands of workers would be hired to work in these factories; the salaries from these workers would stimulate support services (food, lodging, vehicles, etc...); the people working in these support services would go on to the next level; and so on and so forth.

I don't remember the exact details of the talk, but I do remember thinking that if just one or two companies started doing this, and showed their colleagues that it could be successfully done, then things would really change here in America.

[Pull_Ring]

Generosity and the promises of prosperity and liberty will ultimately oust the Communists where bullets failed to do so. Vietnam’s rapid transition to a free market economy over the past two decades proves that the “war” for their people’s freedom isn’t over yet. If this relatively inexpensive gesture helps the process along then I’m all for it!

[Candor7]

As long as the moey actually gets to Vietnam andis properly used beyond corrupt pay offs on its way to doing it, this is money well spent.

But somehow I have a sneaking suspicion that much of that money returns to the black caucus as kick backs , now convicted Congressman Jefferson was one of the bag men. Just ask yourself whether Holder would ever prosecute?

IMHO the black caucus has hit pay dirt.And no one will say a thing about it of do anything about it.To do so is “racist.” Therefore these thugs are above the law, and as such are fascists. This now in part includes the FBI who apprehended Congressman Jefferson, and whom Bush secretly directed to stop without rolling up the whole 3rd world kickback net, which is still in place. The FBI needs to get into them and roll the kick back net up, whether Obama likes it or not.

Welcome to Zimbabwe.

http://www.americanthinker.com/2009/05/barack_obama_the_quintessentia_1.html

[DoughtyOne]

I think you’d have to do it slow, and with a ‘buy American’ campaign in the process. Some things would cost more, but the products would last longer.

Have you tried to buy any electronics lately. Some of it is okay, but other pieces are amazingly back-water type ‘door stops’.

I just purchased an iPod compatible speaker system that incorporated AM/FM radio, a CD player, and an auxiliary input in conjunction with the iPod itself.

Could have been a great little unit, but the programming and functionality of the unit was so ass backwards I had to return it.

Give me some sanity folks. Make stuff in the U.S., a place that at least has some logic left.

I think your friend is right in the long run. Our nation is better served by bringing back our dollars and jobs.

I’m convinced our products wouldn’t have to rise that much in cost, just because a guy down the block worked at the plant that made them.

We’ve been hoodwinked to a large degree.

[Stonewall Jackson]

I've been the manager of the lighting and electrical departments at a home improvement center for almost five years and worked in the departments for three years before that, and I have noticed a severe decline in the quality of the products we sell.

Eight years ago, Hunter ceiling fans were made in the USA and we might have one returned every couple of months because of a manufacturing defect. Now, we have several each week come back because of defects (bearings, capacitors, motors, etc...).

The same goes with the majority of our other products. A few years ago, we might have two recalls in quarter (out of almost four thousand items in the department), but now we have several a month (I think last month was the record, with seventeen different recalls out of lighting and electrical).

A couple of companies have gotten so bad on quality control that I have actually been forced to call corporate office and tell them to cease shipping me product from those companies.

[wideminded]

I have noticed this too, but I think it may be related to the corporate policies of the home improvement store. Products that used to be decent get simplified every year or replaced with lower quality versions.

I know that Walmart pressures its suppliers to reduce their wholesale costs every year if they want to keep having their products stocked. Probably the large home improvement stores do the same thing and eventually quality has to decline. Apparently these stores think that their customers are not going to notice or will have no other choice.

Surprisingly, the small hardware store in my town still carries some items I can no longer find at the big stores.

[DoughtyOne]

A little over ten years ago I noticed a spike in medications that were becoming unavailable. We’re talking about old stand-bys that we had been using for a number of decades with not trouble at all.

One shortage that occurred, I decided to check out what the problem was. After contacted a number of departments at the manufacturing company, I finally cornered someone that explained that the problem was that they were having a hard time getting the raw materials.

As it turned out, the raw materials were then coming from China and North Korea. I kid you not. The guy went on to say that the raw materials they were getting were of poor quality and they just couldn’t manufacture with these poor supplies.

I was dumbfounded to think that we were relying on China and North Korea of all places, for our raw supplies to make medications. Why did we change to those sources? What would possess us to think these two entities were going to be reliable?

Your problems seem ultimately to be ones of poor judgment too. You put your eggs in the basket of companies that cannot produce, produce bad products when they do supply product, and seem to care less what the outcome would be if they do screw up. Hey, we’re stupid enough to remain their customers anyway.

I think you’ve got it right, when you state that we should refuse to do business with companies like that. I mean, what other policy makes sense when these are the parameters?

Good for you. Thanks for relating what your experience was.