Trading meat for hay
This is how we're going to win the trade argument in November. Economic reality and Republican inability to hear what they sound like make 2 of the necessary 3 points to show that we're right and they're wrong on this issue. Now if we can just get Democratic rhetoric to rise to the occasion, we'll be getting somewhere.

The simple truth, and the one that must be made clearly and often, is this:Democrats and Republicans, liberals and conservatives, all believe in the value of trade. But some trades (ask the Boston Red Sox about Babe Ruth, or ask George W. about Sammy Sosa..) are losing propositions. While we're hammering away at the damage done by bad trade agreements, Republicans like Jennifer Dunn of Washington State (apparently a graduate of the Greg Mankiw school of Economics and Public Relations) help our cause with foolish statements like this, from today's NYT:

"Representative Jennifer Dunn, a Republican from Bellevue. . . dismisses the focus on outsourcing as 'a problem we are going to have to live with from now on. To my mind, trade is the one way we're going to create new jobs, so what we need are more trade agreements opening up more markets,'"

Democrats and other progressives believe in trade that is fair and that reflects our values; Republicans believe in quantity...if you trade enough meat for enough hay for long enough...

{UPDATE: Here's the good economic news. Manufacturing jobs have been found! Apparently I super-sized my order at a local manufacturing plant just today.}