Irony Overload: Is the US is about to be Neocolonialised by China?

[hunter]

9. Chinese steel? The bridge is Chinese.

Made in China and assembled in the U.S.A..

The U.S.A. no longer has the capacity to fabricate such a thing.

Even though controversial, authorities decided to allow bids to include major components and materials not made in the United States. This was partially due to the cost of materials, but more substantially, required by the lack of suitable fabrication facilities within this country, or even within the western hemisphere. Since such facilities would have to be built anew and the prospects of additional work would be uncertain, the cost of fabrication would be much higher. As acceptance of Federal Highway funds generally come with "Made in America" restrictions, the bridge is being built without such funds, for which it would otherwise qualify owing to its carriage of Interstate 80.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_span_replacement_of_the_San_Francisco_–_Oakland_Bay_Bridge
(I wish DU wouldn't mangle these links, and I wish Wikipedia editors weren't so anal about em dashes vs. ascii hyphens.)