Reaction to the Alliance for American Manufacturing's (AAM) Should Be Made in America campaign continues to come in from the San Francisco Bay Area.

Responding to AAM's new billboard campaign, the San Francisco Weekly commented:

...a group of American manufacturers are calling it an embarrassment. The Alliance for American Manufacturing launched a new campaign, dubbed "Should Be Made in America," pointing out all the ways in which the U.S. government is outsourcing infrastructure jobs that could go to the American people. The group's first stop: San Francisco Bay Bridge.

The San Francisco Business Times observed that AAM had called the bridge a "failure," and quoted AAM Executive Director Scott Paul on the reasoning behind the billboards:

“The decision to outsource steel in China is having consequences” for the U.S. economy, said Scott Paul, executive director of the Alliance for American Manufacturing. “We think it was the wrong call.”

The Business Times thought the campaign had picked a "curious time to protest," with the bridge almost "90 percent complete."  But Paul explained the reasoning behind the effort:

“This is a forward looking campaign,” said Paul. “We are using the Bay Bridge as a learning moment. California is contemplating $500 billion in infrastructure over the next decade or two. There are future decisions to be made. We want to influence those decisions. We don’t want to repeat the mistakes of the past.”

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