“Buy American” Rule Delays Gov’t Stimulus Projects

From Bloomberg:

President Barack Obama’s stimulus spending has run into a problem: A shortage of General Electric Co. water filters.

GE makes them in Canada. Under the program’s ‘Buy American’ rules, that means the filters can’t be used for work paid for by the $787 billion fund.

Contractors are searching the U.S. in vain for filters as well as bolts and manhole covers needed to build wastewater plants, sewers and water pipes financed by the economic stimulus. As officials wait for federal waivers to buy those goods outside the U.S., water projects from Maine to Kansas have been delayed.

See what happens when the government gets involved in anything? By placing artificial terms, conditions, and regulations on the marketplace, you often wind up with negative and/or unforeseen consequences. In this instance, I think most people could foresee that the Buy American provision was just a blatantly stupid rule. Now we have evidence.