In 2008 an Atlanta judge closed down construction on a coal-fired plant. Since energy is an integral part of the cost of production, that decision if allowed to sand would ultimately increase the prices of domestically produced goods. 

            China on the other hand produces goods that are less expensive. It is not due to child labor as some would have us believe? No, China produces less expensive goods primarily because the government of China is friendlier to industry than are the governments of the United States, and the tax burden of China’s flat tax on private investment is less than half of what domestic corporations have to pay.

            It is true that the air in the industrial cities of China is polluted, but where is the outrage? There is a lot of talk about the inhumanity of using child labor, but our public officials have decided that it is more important to satiate the American public with cheaper goods than to fight for the wellbeing of Chinese children who breathe the polluted China air.

            When the World Trade Organization [WTO] decided that China was violating the anti-dumping provisions and decided the case in favor of an American manufacturer, the decision had to be approved by the President. Since confirming the decision of the WTO would result in higher prices, the President refused to enforce the decision. The immediate effect seems beneficial, but the long term effect was disastrous. The American manufacturer could not compete with the lower prices, and so it moved its operation to China, but before being allowed to do so, that company was required to turn over its years of research and development for new products. In effect China was the beneficiary of millions of dollars of research and development, and would also be the beneficiary of producing the new products in China.

            The public cannot look beyond phase one to appreciate the destructive consequences of economic decisions made by judges and politicians.  In this case State Senator Ross Tollesson should be congratulated and supported for his courage in offering a bill that will reduce the costs of the permitting process by doing away with nuisance law suits by radical environmentalist who put their agenda ahead of economic prosperity.