GOP Trade Policy Slams AZ, US Jobs and Earnings

From the not exactly progressive Alliance for American Manufacturing (AAM):

"The growth of U.S. trade with China since China entered the World Trade Organization in 2001 has had a devastating effect on U.S. workers and the domestic economy. Between 2001 and 2007, 2.3 million jobs were lost or displaced, including 336,000 in 2007 alone. New demographic research shows that, even when re-employed in non-traded industries, the 2.3 million workers displaced by the increase in China trade deficits in this period have lost an average $8,146 per worker/year. In 2007, these losses totalled $19.4 billion.

"The impacts of the China trade deficit are not limited to its diret effects onthe jobs and wages of those displaced. . . . Annual earnings for all workers without a four-year college degree are roughy $1,400 lower today because of this competition, and this group constitutes a large majority of the entire U.S. workforce (roughly 100 million workers or about 70% of all workers...."

Arizona was among the top 20 job losers, ranking 19th at a net loss of 43,300 jobs due to the increase in China trade deficits between 2001 and 2007.

Ironically, the Americans who are hardest hit are the so-called "NASCAR dads and moms," the high-school-educated folks whose support for a Democrat named Barack Obama may be wobbly. Democrats, progressive bloggers, and those who write for, about, and to this demographic owe it to them to put these figures under their noses early and often.

The report is a scathing indictment of global "free trade" policies favored by Republicans, including presidential hopeful AZ Senator John McCain. Well-written and informative, the briefing paper, available online, should be read by everyone before entering the voting booth in November.

It certainly should be required reading for progressive bloggers. Though some of the blame for global "free trade" belongs to the Clintons, Democrats, including Hillary Clinton, are on the front lines of those demanding changes that we are told would help to level the playing field between American and other workers. In the meantime, McCain, who is a clone of the Bush administration on economic policy (we're a nation of "whiners," according to his chief economic policy wonk) as well as Iraq, promises more of the highly destructive gobal trade pacts.