Photo courtesy of John McCain 2008 John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee for president. image:38683:9::0

Although NAFTA and CAFTA have cost thousands of manufacturing jobs, the global elite supporters of this monstrosity called 'free trade' never admit that this is the primary reason why American manufacturing jobs have left the United States. Although free trade has benefited global giant GE and its workers near Cincinnati, Ohio; machinist Gary Jordan blames foreign competition for causing many other manufacturing job losses in Ohio and elsewhere around the country:

As Bloomberg News reports: ''When you see everyone losing their jobs around you, I have to question how much exports are helping this country.''

The GE plant near Cincinnati has 80 percent overseas orders up from slightly over 50 percent in 2003. Employment has risen for five consecutive years. This is admirable but you never hear these economic experts talk about all the imports. Go into any store in the United States and try to find something made in the USA. It's difficult to do.

As Bloomberg News reports:

''Ohio is the only state where exports have increased every year in the past decade.'' Half a million manufacturing workers in Ohio depend on foreign markets for orders and, henceforth, their jobs. However, Ohio has lost 250,000 manufacturing jobs since 2000. National Public Radio conducted a poll and released the results on July 17: 52 percent said that jobs moving out of the country is a big problem in their communities and 77 percent believe that jobs are hard to find now.

In Michigan, Senator McCain campaigned in Belleville on July 10 and told voters that some jobs won't return to the United States. His solution to displaced workers is creating a flexible account so workers can pay for technical education at community colleges. I've heard this refrain from so many past advocates of free trade in general and specific trade agreements such as NAFTA and CAFTA. My response is the same: Train for what? To work at Wal-Mart? As a janitor cleaning banks and office buildings in the evening? Working at Wendy's or Burger King?

One of McCain's trade advisers is former Rep. Rob Portman of Ohio who was also President George W. Bush's former trade representative as well. He says that if the U.S. isn't a part of future trade agreements, our standard of living will suffer. It has suffered already because of these trade agreements.

Senator Obama, on the other hand, has a much more murky outlook regarding trade policy. He talked tough on trade during the Ohio and Pennsylvania primaries but still lost both of them to Hillary Clinton. Obama said that we should demand labor and environmental changes to NAFTA or pull out. However, since he has won the Democratic presidential nomination, he has been quiet on trade unless asked.

He had this to say when he spoke at a campaign event on July 1 in Zanesville, Ohio: ''The U.S. has ''to be better, tougher negotiators on the world's trade stage. Many of the jobs that have been lost in Ohio can't be traced to trade.'' What can they be traced to?

Of course, economists trace the decline in manufacturing to technology and productivity. The United States has increased their levels of productivity yet we have still lost many jobs. Some of it has to do with automation but the global economy that American corporations have wanted for quite some time now has come to fruition and American manufacturing workers have gotten the shaft. Everything in this country is geared to what businesses want. They want and demand cheap labor.

The problem with this is how some workers understand it or don't understand it. I quote Matt Louiso, who is a 53 year-old president of the International Association of Machinists union local at the GE plant near Cincinnati, Ohio. As Bloomberg News reports: ''Trade is good for some people like us, but it's bad that other American jobs are leaving the country. I'm so mixed up; I don't know who I'm going to vote for.''

Chuck Baldwin and Ralph Nader oppose our current trade policy. Libertarian presidential candidate Bob Barr ''voted yes on withdrawing from the WTO and voted no on 'Fast Track' authority for trade agreements.''

Mr. Louiso, you do have choices! Forget about Obama and McCain and focus your eyes and ears on the minor party candidates!