Trade policy needs to protect U.S. jobs

We used to have taxes on cheap imports, to keep our own industries competitive. American corporations used to pay taxes on their profits. We had the best economy in the world. Then the right wing got control, and lopsided trade deals killed most garment factories in the USA. Later, most of our light industry was shipped overseas. The little red wagons and bicycles for kids are all made in China now. The Republicans even gave a tax break to companies who closed a factory.

Now they want us to become another Brazil, where the top 1 percent have 99 percent of the wealth, and everybody else lives in shacks and has to pray for a miracle if they get sick. The numbers in the USA are already 5 percent and 95 percent, so we have almost become "Republican Heaven."

We need to place heavy penalties on any company that wants to move its headquarters to a mailbox in the Bahamas, or move production offshore. We need to put a leash on the credit card companies, who are killing America with unfair interest and penalties, and have a national cap on interest rates, so Delaware can't be a haven for crooks anymore. We need a trade policy that protects American jobs.

We need more unions, not fewer, so all can afford a warm place to live and three meals a day. Let's be the opposite of Brazil and China!

Jim Hutchison
Marysville