“so what is wrong with US steel and concrete??”
Due to US regulatory requirements,(Notice I didn’t say “wages””?) it is 4x to as much 10 times more expensive to make steel of the same quality in America, than it does to make it in China, and ship it halfway across the planet.
HELLO HOUSTON, WE MIGHT HAVE A PROBLEM!!
(Can ya hear Ross Perot’s Giant Sucking Sound, yet?)
Repeal the Davis-Bacon Act
How prevailing wage laws benefit unions at the expense of taxpayers
For nearly 80 years, contractors working on federally funded construction projects have been forced to pay their workers artificially inflated wages that rip off American taxpayers while lining the pockets of organized labor. The culprit is the Davis-Bacon Act of 1931, which requires all workers on federal projects worth more than $2,000 to be paid the “prevailing wage,” which means THE LOCAL UNNION WAGE.
http://reason.com/archives/2010/03/24/repeal-the-davis-bacon-act
the legal definition for treason needs updating to include those who would deliberately cause harm to US business, industry and vital elements of national economy. Or words to that effect.
It isn't just regulatory requirements, it's 40+ years of unbridled inflation thanks to our comrades at the Fed. Prices and wages rise here every year and make our industry uncompetitive.
It's what has caused the hollowing-out of our manufacturing sector and our eternal trade deficits.