Sales of scrap metal to China have surged, with effects that are ricocheting across the American economy. Prices are soaring not just for scrap, but for metals in general. After years of surpluses that forced many steel makers into bankruptcy, supplies are so tight that contractors told a Congressional hearing in Washington this week that they sometimes cannot obtain supplies at any price, reports the NY Times today............
A Chinese-born scrap metal buyer,Mr. Pan has a business, called Universal Scrap Metals, that ships about 500 containers a month to China filled with battered pipes, fine metal shavings, doorknobs, jumbles of wire, crumpled cars and all other manner of flotsam.
Mr. Pan... said that Americans should be a little more appreciative of the benefits of China's scrap purchases. After all, he argued, they keep some junk that could never be used in the United States from ending up in American landfills.
"We do something good for America," he said. "We do something good for China."
I bet that is just what the Colonialists said after they took over a country
Do not feel bad. Before W.W.2 we had a land office business selling Japan scrap metal. It helped build their navy and airforce.
ReplyDeleteThe Japanese controlled 90% of the world's opium market. It was known that most Japanese ships docking in N.Y carried opium. They even cheated the Italians and Jews who ran the docks. Scrap for smack...now that is HOPE AND CHANGE.