Fast Fact

More Uninsured Children

Terrance Heath — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 17:32:12 -0400

In 2006, 11.7% of children, or 8.7 million kids, went without health insurance. That's up from the previous year, when 10.9%, or 8 million children, were uninsured.

Americans Lack Health Insurance

Alex Carter — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 10:39:50 -0400

47 million Americans lacked health insurance in 2006, up from 38 million in 2000.

Toxic Imports

Armand Biroonak — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 16:20:06 -0400

American consumers are at risk from toxic imports. Just last year: 20 million toys from China were recalled, including more than 1.5 million toys covered with lead paint; 450,000 unsafe tires were recalled; four brands of toothpaste were recalled because of a toxic ingredient; and 5,300 product lines of pet food were recalled because they contained deadly chemicals that killed more than 4,000 pets.

America for Sale

Armand Biroonak — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 16:14:08 -0400

The American economy is increasingly in hock to foreign governments. China and the OPEC nations are setting up sovereign investment funds to buy up pieces of America. China recently bought a $5 billion stake in Morgan Stanley. Abu Dhabi bought $7.5 billion of Citigroup. Singapore paid $4.4 billion for a part of Merrill Lynch.

Half of Our Trade Deficit Due to Oil

Armand Biroonak — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 16:09:12 -0400

Almost half of our trade deficit—$327 billion—is attributable to oil imports. To finance this debt, we must either borrow from countries like China or sell off American assets at the rate of $2 billion every single day.

Trade Deficit with China

Armand Biroonak — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 16:03:03 -0400

In 2007, the U.S. trade deficit with China alone hit a record $256 billion, out of the total U.S. trade deficit of $711 billion.

Trade Deficit Nearly Doubles under Bush

Armand Biroonak — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 15:54:26 -0400

America's trade deficit has nearly doubled during the Bush presidency. The 2007 trade deficit was $711 billion compared to $365 billion in 2001.

Manufacturing Sector Takes a Big Hit

Armand Biroonak — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 15:48:40 -0400

The manufacturing sector has been hit hard by current foreign trade policies with 3.4 million jobs—one out of every five manufacturing jobs—shipped overseas over the past seven years. Under the current trade agreements, as many as 40 million more jobs will be at risk over the next 10 to 20 years.

400,000 American Jobs Lost a Year

Armand Biroonak — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 15:36:14 -0400

Every year, about 400,000 American jobs are lost because of our foreign trade policy—and that number takes into account employment created by increased exports.

Workers Face Challenges When Unionizing

Armand Biroonak — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 15:19:43 -0400

Without legal protections such as the Employee Free Choice Act, workers when trying to organize unions are subject to routine intimidation, harassment, coercion and firings. Workers are fired in a quarter of private-sector union organizing campaigns; in such campaigns, 78 percent of private employers require supervisors to deliver anti-union messages to their employees; and even after workers successfully form a union, they can't get a contract one-third of the time.