McCain's Flea-Market Economy

George W. Bush's solution to our nation's economic mess—that his failed policies helped create—is to applaud people who must work three jobs [1] to make ends meet.

Sen. John McCain [2] colors his solution to working families' financial struggles with similar crayons: He encourages us to make a living selling stuff on eBay [3]. As reported on Bloomberg:

McCain, seeking to address voter anxiety about the economy, uses eBay to signal that he is ``fundamentally optimistic about the capacity of the U.S. economy to innovate, for that innovation to give new opportunities for jobs,'' said Doug Holtz-Eakin [4], the candidate's senior economic adviser. "We shouldn't be obsessed with looking backwards all the time, and saying, 'Gee, where did those jobs go?' "

Why worry indeed? After all, top McCain adviser Randy Altschuler [5] is fond of an India-based company whose mission is to convince U.S. companies to outsource jobs [6] to India. McCain also takes economic advice from a former lobbyist [7] for a bank with interests in the housing market—and then there's Douglas Holtz-Eakin, a top economic adviser to McCain who acknowledges McCain doesn’t want [8] to include labor and environmental standards in trade agreements.

McCain's support for a flea-market economy based on eBay is fundamental to his disconnect from the realities facing working families. Like Bush [9], McCain recently admitted he doesn't know the price of gas [10]. Guess what? Working families sure do.

Stumping for the presidential primaries, McCain has snubbed America's workers by:

· Promoting [11] failed trade agreements like the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA [12]) while standing in front of a failed factory in Ohio [13].
· Holding a town hall meeting at Worth & Co., a Bucks County, Pa., contracting company investigated by the state Department of Labor and Industry for “intentionally failing to pay [14] the predetermined minimum wage” to its employees. The state has accused the company of cheating employees out of $142,000 in wages [14] for government projects.
· Not bothering to respond to invitations by union members holding roundtables [15] on the economy.

This is how McCain's treats workers when he needs votes. Imagine what a McCain presidency would be like for working families when he thinks he has a mandate to govern.