wage loss

China Trade Deficit Has Cost the United States 3.2 Million Jobs

If anyone believes offshore outsourcing jobs is passé and not impacting U.S. labor markets think again.  The Economic Policy Institute has published a new study showing America has lost millions of jobs to China's cheap labor market.  From 2001 to 2013, the massive trade deficit with China has cost the United States 3.2 million jobs.

Prepaid and Payroll Cards Get a Lawsuit

Every day we have outrage after outrage against the U.S. worker and middle class.  There is so much economic injustice, it's hard to keep up.  Yet some stories are so outrageous you'll swear out loud and scare the dog.  Such is the story of McDonald's workers being paid by debit cards instead of checks, forced to do so.  An McDonald's ex-employee just sued over it:

Fired America

There is a complete disconnect in Washington from the quiet desperation of American lives.   While politicians chatter talking points and claim lobbyists' agendas are somehow sane economic and labor policy, a full 23% of Americans have been fired in the last four years. 

Trade With China Has Cost the U.S. 2.7 Million Jobs

So says the Economic Policy Institute in an updated study. Over the last decade, from 2001 to 2011, the United States has lost a whopping 2.7 million jobs to China alone and this estimate is conservative. The China PNTR trade agreement was signed by President Clinton on October 10th, 2000 and China entered the WTO in 2001.

The more than 2.7 million jobs lost or displaced in all sectors include 662,100 jobs from 2008 to 2011 alone—even though imports from China and the rest of the world plunged in 2009.

Below is EPI's map showing China unfair trade's job losses as a percentage of total state employment. These are not just a few minor localized pockets of jobs. We're talking significant payroll percentages per state being lost just due to China trade.

china job loss epi

Would we truly be racist if we demanded "Made in the USA"?

Amazingly, in the past several months I've been called a racist 3 times, more than anytime in my life!  The first time was when the Jeremiah Wright thing broke out and I defended the guy, I was called bigoted against whites.  Then, just the other I was called first "pro-Black" then "racist against whites" because I favored Barack Obama over that walking museum piece from Arizona.  Now, today, the conservative economic blog site, Carpe Diem, is labeling people like me racist for demanding things be made in this country!