stimulus outsources stimulation
During a recent visit to Estamos, a Lichinga non-profit working in community health, I was offered a box of mints which, flavored or not, turned out to be condoms. The laugh needed no translation. Knowing they were from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), I took one as a gift from my parents’ tax dollars.
You get your Alabama pride where you can. And today, it was in exported condoms. Alatech Healthcare has been the country’s exclusive condom supplier for USAID and operates a state-of-the-art facility in Eufaula with the capacity to produce one billion a year.
Recently, however, it’s been Alatech’s own employees who have needed protection.
Senators Shelby and Sessions are fighting to keep “buy American” language in spending bills, but now 300 workers are facing layoffs as the factory’s future is in jeopardy.
Last March, The Kansas City Star broke news of overseas competition threatening Alatech.
“At a time when the federal government is spending billions of stimulus dollars to stem the tide of U.S. layoffs,” said columnist Mike McGraw, “should that same government put even more Americans out of work by buying cheaper foreign products?”
USAID will begin purchasing condoms from China and South Korea, costing 3 cents less than those made in Alabama. Those pennies mean lower overseas standards and a time where the U.S. outsources its own aid.
For USAID, the road to development forks again over “saving jobs at home or lives abroad” (Dugger, New York Times).
For Alabama, it may mean the rubbers are finally hitting the road.
