The phrase “buy American” has a nice ring to it, right?  And some people are extremely pleased that the nearly-done bailout package has this provision included.  But others are pointing out that some rather serious problems could result.

Suppose, for example, that every company helped by the bailout does buy American.  Our economy will get a brief boost.  Then, if countries like China and Russia follow suit with protectionist policies of their own, it’ll get whacked again, perhaps worse than before.  And the U.S. will lose political capital at the same time.

Here’s another issue: it’s a simple fact that foreign goods are sometimes better and/or cheaper than the made-in-America varieties.  So the bailout bill might actually sort of tie the hands of companies, allowing them to only accomplish some of whatever projects they could have otherwise tackled.

There are many other factors to consider, too, of course, and this article would turn into a book if all the arguments of people on both sides were brought forward.  Just remember that the matter of buying American - or not - is perhaps more complicated than any slogan on a protester’s sign can encapsulate.