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Germany 14.9%, Spain 9.3%, Italy 8.9%, UK 8.1%, Belgium 7.3%, US 6.1%, Netherlands 4.1% (2007)
Now look at the countries France imports products from.
Germany 18.9%, Belgium 11.4%, Italy 8.4%, Spain 7.1%, Netherlands 7%, UK 5.6%, US 4.4%, China 4% (2007)
They are trading goods, not labor; they aren't selling their jobs and industries for cheap goods from Wal-Mart. They defend their workers by taxing the wealthy. They defend their markets by not swinging the doors wide open to goods manufactured by workers making four or five dollars a day.
This country is at a crossroads; it is time we put down our sword and shield of party and partisanship. I have not mentioned Sarah Palin or Michael Jackson because they are unworthy of mention. They are not important on a sinking ship; we must concentrate on saving the living and ignore the dead.
The political leaders of all parties must be made to understand that if you will not defend us and protect us, we will throw them overboard for someone who will. The administration of George W. Bush completely destroyed the Republican Party; now Barack Obama is pursuing the same policies. Does he think that the results will be any different for the Democratic Party?
Every day and every hour I see and read heartbreaking stories of people who, through no fault of their own, are being evicted or dispossessed. Yesterday I saw a young man in his twenties sitting on the curb of the street with his head down and holding a hand-made sign, "No Job, No Money, No food." He wasn't panhandling as much as he was protesting and proclaiming what is going on in this country. Our stores are full of Chinese junk and our children sit hungry on the curb and the elderly and disabled cry outside the governor's office in Sacramento because they don't know how they will stay alive if the proposed budget cuts pass into law.
And the Bush tax cuts are still the law of the land. Still our politicians tell us it's free trade; it can't be helped.
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