[Tyler_JC]

And why is this a bad thing?

It's the natural result of a decline in the dollar.

Now the US current account deficit will close and the country will be on a stronger financial footing in the future.

I welcome our European Overlords.

[FreakOil]

When is a country's currency declines it makes it cheaper to manufacture there. This is one factor that led to the Russian economy rebounding after the 1998 financial crisis.

There must be thousands of fantastic brownfield sites in the rust belt and elsewhere. It could even spur some rail development, as the rising price of gas makes trains a much better way to get goods from the factories to port or market.

[Chuckmak]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Tyler_JC', 'I') welcome our European Overlords.

[Chuckmak]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('FreakOil', 'T')here must be thousands of fantastic brownfield sites in the rust belt and elsewhere. It could even spur some rail development, as the rising price of gas makes trains a much better way to get goods from the factories to port or market.

[frankthetank]

I wish they would outsource their dark chocolate production here...

[Kingcoal]

Bring in the Euros! That's the whole idea of a cheap dollar. Unfortunately the six weeks of vacation doesn't come with the package!

[perdition79]

Of all the places to stick a $200 million plant, Alstom decides to make turbines in the home of the Moon Pie. Those good old boys in Chattanooga are going to need pictographs to work the machinery.

[I_Like_Plants]

And this is bad, how?

I'd be proud to work in a sweatshop for Euros, it's better than no work at all!

[Tyler_JC]

Why do they need to build sweatshops?

Current US health and safety regulations would prevent the construction of the kinds of factories producing plastic junk in China.

Considering the difference in wages and availability of skilled manufactoring labor, I'm surprised we haven't seen more of this kind of thing.

And since when is foreign direct investment a bad thing?

[Plantagenet]

Japan outsourced some auto factories to the US 20+ years ago.

[Chuckmak]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Plantagenet', 'J')apan outsourced some auto factories to the US 20+ years ago.

[I_Like_Plants]

As per European work standards, all American workplaces are "sweatshops".

But, yes, we need more European companies working here, to solidify the Aryan Bund we'll need to survive, and to solidify the idea of the Aryan Bund in the minds of the populace, also remember that European ideas of self-determination etc can be used to gradually segregate and expel non-European/European-heritage elements in the US. It will ultimately result in a rebirth of our European roots and culture in the US.

[perdition79]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('I_Like_Plants', 'B')ut, yes, we need more European companies working here, to solidify the Aryan Bund we'll need to survive, and to solidify the idea of the Aryan Bund in the minds of the populace, also remember that European ideas of self-determination etc can be used to gradually segregate and expel non-European/European-heritage elements in the US. It will ultimately result in a rebirth of our European roots and culture in the US.

[jboogy]

I don't understand the concepts being discussed here but this thread and some of the people in it scare me.

[FreakOil]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('jboogy', 'I') don't understand the concepts being discussed here but this thread and some of the people in it scare me.

[smallpoxgirl]

Is it just me or is it a pretty clear sign that your country has jumped the shark when you have to start buying weapons from the Dutch?

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')he US Air Force has handed European defence company EADS a $40bn (£20.1bn) contract for aerial refuelling tankers in a stunning defeat for Boeing. The decision has already sparked a political backlash against putting a critical military contract partly into the hands of a foreign company.

The contract, one of the largest at the Pentagon, is initially valued at $40bn (£20.1bn) but has the potential to grow to $100 billion.

[Kingcoal]

I think it has more to do with politics than anything. The Europeans have been complaining for years about not getting contracts even though in some cases, they had a better product at a better price. Also, a customer has to slap its big suppliers once in a while, especially considering the scandal at Boeing concerning the original contract. The third reason is that it is important to keep Europeans "enfranchised." People around the world vote with their stomachs, so giving another country a huge jobs program goes a long way towards keeping Europeans in the boat on the war on terror. The payment will be in dollars, so this puts more pressure on the EU fed to relax their tightening and let the Euro slide a bit in relation to the dollar so they can get even more American business. Airbus has been complaining to the EU fed about that for some time now.

[FireAnt]

Ironically, the Dutch use the McDonnell Douglas KDC-10 tanker, built in good old Long Beach, California.

[Ferretlover]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('smallpoxgirl', 'I')s it just me or is it a pretty clear sign that your country has jumped the shark when you have to start buying weapons from the Dutch?

[Drake]

Where did you get the idea EADS and Airbus was a dutch company?
It's merely their legal company domicile within the EU, actually it's a french-german-spanish company. So at least the german part guarantees good engineering
The US gets 7000 jobs in Mobile where the plane will be built and the better plane, don't know what the fuzz is all about. You should knock some sense into your senators (like Brownback) for such nonsensical populistic thrashtalking and perhaps remind them that US companies are selling their stuff over here in europe as well and probably more than vice versa.
The european central bank won't ease its money policy over airbus either, because contrary to the american fed one of its primary objectives is to keep inflation rates moderatly low (7% like the US nowadays is completely off the charts, max 2% is the goal and it's already to high due the topic of this board). This is still a remnant from the german experience of hyperinflation in the 1920ies, eversince then this was always the primary objective of the german central banks and as the follow up organisation the EZB carries that torch.
And we don't need to be enfranchised, we are with you in that boat, no matter what might be conveyed by the media sometimes. After all it is our civilization which is at stake here, we're family.
We germans for example might seem a little out of shape lately, but we'll come around, it's just timeconsuming to get 50 years of leftist pacifist indoctrination after ww2 out of the system. But we are still the descendants of karl martell or barbarossa or the holy league.