President Bush touts his economic plan standing in front of
"Made in USA" boxes that are nothing more than a painted prop.
Bush staffers taped over the "Made in China" labels on
the real boxes in front.

President George W. Bush came away red-faced from a sales pitch for his economic stimulus" package last month. At a St. Louis warehouse, his backdrop showed stacks of painted cardboard cartons proudly marked with "Made in the USA" labels.

The real boxes directly in front of the president, filled with flowered headbands, had labels that read "Made in China' " labels someone had covered up with tape.

Free trade policies pursued by the Bush and previous Administrations have opened the gates to foreign- made products, which eroded North America's industrial base, sent trade deficits soaring and led to the export of millions of good-paying jobs.

Since taking office two years ago, President Bush has overseen the loss of some 1.7 million jobs―most of them in the manufacturing sector―to low-wage nations like China.

Current trade deals have not raised the standard of living for North American workers. NAFTA alone has cost the U.S. and Canada more than 800,000 jobs in the manufacturing industry," explains Owen Herrnstadt, the IAM's director of Trade and Globalization.

There is little doubt that unfair trade policies wreak havoc with North American economies. For the first time, the U.S trade deficit has risen above $500 billion, a record 4.3 percent of GDP," Jeff Faux notes.

But there are other factors at work.

Joe Grandmaison, a director of the United States Export Import Bank, explains that government financing for U.S. capital goods exports since 1979 has dropped from 13 percent to two percent. A phenomenal drop."

Companies now set up their own financing operations. Caterpillar Finance supports 60 percent of all their sales overseas in 2001. Boeing Capital has a portfolio of $8.6 billion, and new business for the year of $3.9 billion," says Grandmaison. GE Finance, virtually one of the largest banks in the world, GE [does] financing for others as well. And even UPS recently acquired a bank, US Capital, to service their customers."

The world, at least the world of finance, is changing. These companies are financing their future profit centers Ð production facilities and service centers -in China and elsewhere.

Herrnstadt points out that despite years of extolling the virtues of trade agreements with China and that nation's entry into the World Trade Organization, China is one of the largest exporters to the U.S. with practically record exports every month!"

The U.S Government does more than talk free trade; it gives away taxpayer-funded technology and production processes by approving sidebar deals called offsets.

One recent deal between Boeing and South Korea was for F-15s. South Korea says that bargain will bring 30,000 jobs to that country, jobs that could have been filled by unemployed workers in St. Louis and other Boeing facilities.

Another deal was struck between Lockheed Corp. and Poland for similar offsets. The government-approved deal involved billions worth of offsets, covering work on Pratt & Whitney engines produced in Poland.