On the recordOctober 6, 2011
I rise today to speak about the issue of creating jobs in America--more specifically, the loss of jobs that has been driven by the unfair trade practices of China. The bottom line is this: Chinese manipulation of currency is a tariff on American products and a subsidy to Chinese exports, greatly disadvantaging manufacturing in America and destroying thousands of American jobs. When we look at our challenge, it is not to simply strengthen the overall economy, often measured by the gross domestic product. Our challenge is to strengthen the American family, the financial foundations that depend upon a good living-wage job. So every proposal we consider should be weighed by whether it creates jobs or destroys jobs. That is true in times of a robust economy. It is particularly true now when we have a persistent high unemployment rate, when families have been battered not just by the loss of jobs but by the loss of equity in their homes, by the loss of their health care that went with their jobs, by the loss of their retirement savings--all of these at a time when the price of things fundamental to families keeps going up. There are many who looked to the opening of China as an opportunity to have a vast market for American products. Indeed, many continue today to talk about China in terms of the market opportunities for American products.…





