Dave Johnson: Will Conservatives Support American Companies?

Which is better for an economy: Millions of future jobs and trillions of future dollars, or a few people making a quick buck today by selling out their country? For decades, America's 1%-backed conservatives have chosen the latter course, and we can see the results all around us. Now the Obama administration has imposed stiff tariffs on Chinese solar panels, because China was "dumping", selling below cost, to drive American manufacturers out of business. Will conservatives support their country and our companies, or will they continue to side with our country's competitors? The Commerce Department yesterday concluded that Chinese solar panel companies are "dumping" product, selling below the cost of production, into the US market, and impose stiff tariffs: The United States on Thursday announced the imposition of anti-dumping tariffs of more than 31 percent on solar panels from China. The anti-dumping decision is among the biggest in American history, covering one of the largest and fastest-growing categories of imports from China, the world's largest exporter. Again and again, technology revolutions come along and disrupt economies. Countries that jump on new technologies are the countries that win the industries and jobs and revenue. This is how the United States became a world power: Railroads, steel, automobiles, airplanes, electronics, semiconductors, computers, the Internet, pharmaceuticals, biotech and software are a few examples, and in every case our government helped these new industries get off the ground. When these industries took root, the payoff was enormous!