Our Awful Situation

Archive for the ‘Trade’ Category

Canada blocks sale of satellite company to U.S. firm

Posted by Charlie Kilo on April 10th, 2008

Canada tries to flex a little muscle…

In an unprecedented move, the Canadian government blocked the sale of the country’s large space equipment and satellite maker Thursday to an American company, amid concerns over Canada’s sovereignty and U.S. national security laws.

The rejection of a $1.3 billion bid by Alliant Techsystems of Minneapolis for the space operations of MacDonald Dettwiler & Associates is the first under Canada’s 23-year-old foreign investment law.

The proposal raised sensitive issues about Canada’s Arctic sovereignty that crossed party lines. It also revived a debate about control of Canada’s aerospace industry that stretched back to a decision in 1959 to cancel the development of a Canadian fighter jet in favor of purchasing American aircraft.

Trucking news: Talk of an April 1 trucking shutdown gains momentum

Posted by Charlie Kilo on March 29th, 2008

Speculation about a possible trucking shutdown on April 1 has been gaining momentum recently, according to media reports and Internet discussion boards. 

Independent truckers are the life blood of the U.S. economy and diesel prices are sucking them dry. Consider this:

The shutdown, which would be conducted primarily by owner-operators, is in response to the current run-up for diesel gasoline prices. Nationwide, diesel is currently averaging $3.989 per gallon and has gone up 70.9 cents in the last five weeks—all of which have been record-breaking—according to the Energy Information Association, a unit of Department of Energy. And in some parts of the U.S. diesel is already exceeding the $4 per gallon mark.

 

What’s more, the American Trucking Associations (ATA) called on the White House earlier this week to release oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) to curtail this ongoing historical run-up in crude oil prices, which continue to hinder myriad segments of the U.S. economy and freight transportation—especially trucking—in general. And last week the ATA projected a record-high diesel bill for 2008, noting that that trucking industry is on pace to spend $135 billion on fuel in 2008—based on current price forecasts. This estimate, said the ATA, would be a $22 billion increase over the trucking industry’s $112.6 billion 2007 fuel tab.

 

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China’s Factory Blues

Posted by Charlie Kilo on March 28th, 2008

The days of ultra-cheap labor and little regulation are gone. As manufacturers’ costs climb, export prices will follow

The U.S. housing market, which generated demand for everything from Chinese-made bedroom sets to bathroom fixtures, has plummeted. A new Chinese labor law that took effect on Jan. 1 has significantly raised costs in an already tight labor market. Soaring commodity and energy prices, as well as Beijing’s cancellation of preferential policies for exporters, have hammered manufacturers. The appreciation of the Chinese currency has shrunk already razor-thin margins, pushed thousands of manufacturers to the edge of bankruptcy, and threatened China’s role as the preeminent exporter of low-priced goods.

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