Speaking for Ohio, we are tired of setting records for job losses and home foreclosures.

We have been raped by NAFTA (remember Ross Perot?), raped by the Chinese and we are getting tired of hearing how great things will be in the "long run."

Senator DeWine paid no attention to the economy until about 3 months ago, and his only solutions for Ohio are tax cuts for the wealthy and more trade with China.

The Bush administration position? "Let them eat cake." (as delievered by Snow and Mankiw)

We don't want to stop progress (and can't) but we are tired of Wall Street and K Street drowning in money will we pay the price.

The benefits of our trade policy.........

Top degrees here earn $22,000 less

Thursday, October 26, 2006
Joe Guillen
(Cleveland) Plain Dealer Reporter

It pays to attend college, but not as much in Northeast Ohio than in other parts of the country.

Northeast Ohioans holding an advanced college degree earn about $22,000 less per year than the national average, according to recently released Census data.

The data also shows people with bachelor's degrees and high school diplomas in the region earn thousands less on average than their national counterparts.

Bachelor's degree-holders in Northeast Ohio make an average of $43,737, compared with the national average of $51,554.

High school graduates earn $26,428 on average here, compared with $28,645 nationally. People in the area with advanced degrees average a salary of $56,367, while the national average is $78,093.

The averages were released today from a Census Bureau survey of 100,000 households nationwide done in February, March and April 2005. They cover adults ages 18 and older. The figures specific to Northeast Ohio represent people 25 years and older and are estimates as of July 1, 2005.

People of all education levels earn less here because Ohio's economy generally grows slower than other parts of the country, said LeRoy Brooks, professor of finance at John Carroll University.......

Expect free trade to suffer along with all other major national issues for the next 2 years. Election '08 positioning has already begun, and no other matter will get serious attention.

Partisanship cannot get any more sour, and in 2 months retribution will drive the congressional agenda.

I don't mean to sound so negative, but it's very hard to see bitter, vengeful DFL'ers rising above the GOP stench.

Drezner's argument seems a little disingenuous, because you can say that almost any change in the composition of Congress won't have a huge effect on anything. For example, adding six Democrats to the Senate will not, in fact, have a dramatic impact on federal funding of stem cell research (one of Prof. Drezner's favorite boondoggles, I know). It will probably have minimal impact on our Iraq policy. Etc., etc. So this is an argument for not caring who wins the election, not an argument for voting Democratic.

The free-trade coalition is a shifting coalition of sorts. Many Democrats can be persuaded to vote for certain agreements with enough trade adjustment, promises to slow the pace of change in certain industries, etc. Likewise in the House, allthough in the House the fight is tougher.

But yes, Bush has made no effort to revive Doha or other trade agreements, so the question is largely moot.

I get it that Dan and others want psychological reassurance that it's okay to vote their emotions and punish the Republicans. The Congressional majority pisses me off, too. But this analysis ignores the issue--not whether Doha will go forward (we should live so long), but whether active protectionism will increase. It's wildly optimistic to cast trade policy only in terms of whether things will get better and how fast. We have to think about things getting a lot worse, and over a longer time frame.

As for poor Ohio, I don't see how every part of the country can be on or above the average of any indicator. We don't live in the United States of Lake Woebegone.

One thing a pro-free trade Senate CAN do is keep idiotic "Buy American" stuff from the House from being attached to must pass bills such as appropriations and defense authorization.