The Candidates and China

First, I thought I'd post this link to an article about how McCain and Obama feel about issues the U.S. has with the world's most populous country, China. America runs a large trade deficit with China, and in more recent months, we've seen that Chinese products do not always meet U.S. standards as to safety, for example, when lead was found to have been used in numerous, but certainly not all, toys made by the Chinese. There seems to be no question that America has lost jobs to China, with many American workers having been displaced, particularly in the manufacturing area, where decent wages and benefits had helped propel American workers into the middle class. How many of these jobs have been lost is still open to debate. To me, it isn't just how many jobs have been lost, but also the "tone" that the situation of "free trade" in general has created, as wages and benefits for American workers have been under pressure with the growing number of trade deals, not only with China, but with other countries too. Free traders say that cheaper Chinese products have helped save Americans money, while also providing a wider variety of products available to American consumers.

There are also a variety of issues on the foreign policy front, where in recent years the U.S. has relied upon China to help pressure North Korea in the nuclear weapons debate. Tibet and Taiwan are also among other issues confronting the next president. Anyway, here's the link to the article:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25288252/