On the recordDecember 14, 2011
Perfect. I just want to say a deep thanks to Congressman Garamendi for bringing us together tonight. I wanted to say as a member of the China Commission, we had testimony yesterday from various witnesses on the economy, on the legal structure of China, on democracy and the lack thereof in that country. One of the points that we discussed was how closed the Chinese market is to products from around the world--much like Japan, much like Korea. You look at Singapore, many of the Asian nations keep our products out. And we're asking American companies to try to compete in a situation where our market is open and their market is closed. So we can't get access to those customers. One of the points that was brought up by one of the top economists that testified before the China Commission was the fact that the Chinese Government backs those companies. Really, the government owns the companies, and they infuse billions of dollars. So think about this. The workers and companies of northern Ohio and the U.S. automotive industry are trying to compete in a global market where some of the major markets in the world, like Japan, are closed. And they've remained closed for decades. China does not welcome us in. We are literally competing against state-managed capitalism. It is not a free market. It is not a market economy we are dealing with. It is very controlled. There was criticism by some that, oh gosh, look at Congress, they are helping the U.S. automotive industry.…
