"Wear Jeans? Why Made in America Matters to You" is a cross-post from the Youth Monument blog, by Celeste Drake, trade and globalization policy specialist at the AFL-CIO. 

“Buy American.” “Made in America.” In today’s interconnected world, those ideas might seem more like leftovers from the Cold War—not important maxims for America’s future. After all, young Americans are drinking Colombian coffee in the morning, skyping with friends in the U.K. at lunch, buying a made-in-China iPhone in the afternoon and drinking Italian wine in the evening. The idea of “Buying American,” or economic patriotism, might seem quaint, if not outright ridiculous.

Fact is, making things in America isn’t an obsolete idea. It’s how we built this country into the largest economy the world has ever seen. And it’s imperative for America’s future. 

We expect tonight’s debate will include more fantastical claims from Mitt Romney, and to inoculate you against “Romnesia,” we include some notes on the actual Romney-Ryan record. Despite Romney and Paul Ryan’s history of enthusiasm for outsourcing American jobs to China and elsewhere, they claim they would somehow be “tougher on China” than the Obama administration has been. We want to make sure you know about the real Romney-Ryan record on China before Romney tries to “etch-a-sketch” it away this evening.

The Obama administration today announced that it will take action against unfair trade practices by China in auto part exports to the United States and tariff barriers against the import of American-made cars to China. Meanwhile, over the weekend, the Boston Globe detailed Mitt Romney’s business and personal investments in Chinese manufacturing companies. AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka says the administration’s action is:

Good news, not just for workers who rely on the auto industry, but for the entire American economy.

Trade deficits matter: 2.7 million U.S. jobs have been lost over the past decade due to our nation’s growing trade deficit with China, according to a new report out today (click on chart to expand).

“The China Toll” also shows that between 2001—when China was admitted into the World Trade Organization—and 2011, the U.S. trade deficit with that nation eliminated or displaced 2.1 million manufacturing jobs. Those jobs represent more than half of all U.S. manufacturing jobs lost during that time.

This is a cross-post from The Huffington Post by Stan Sorscher, labor representative for the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace/IFPTE Local 2001 (SPEEA/IFPTE).

The other day, I had lunch with an economist I respect and admire. I asked him, what would it take for China to become a modern democracy and build a strong middle class?

OK. I didn't ask him that. I told him that China would need strong institutions of civil society and a deeper sense of a social contract to become a stable modern democracy with a dynamic middle class.

Mitt Romney made a wad of cash—$255 million—by laying off American workers and shipping U.S. jobs overseas.

Now he wants to give millionaires and billionaires more tax cuts they don't need—tax cuts that didn’t create jobs the first time around—while hurting the rest of us.

Meet Mr. 1% is our new website with infographics and a video you can share on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.

Mitt Romney “doesn’t know a thing about responsibility,” AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka will tell delegates of the Heat and Frost Insulators today in Las Vegas at their 2012 convention. Romney’s plan to better the wealthiest 1% of taxpayers at the expense of the middle class is not the kind of America we want. 

It’s been made abundantly clear in recent weeks that Mitt Romney doesn’t share the values the majority of American workers hold.

Join noted journalist Timothy Noah at the AFL-CIO in Washington, D.C., this Friday, July 20, at 12 p.m. for a discussion of his new book, The Great Divergence: America’s Growing Inequality Crisis and What We Can Do About It. Noah will explain how the Great Divergence has come about, why it threatens American democracy—and what we can do to reverse it.

Books will be available for purchase and for author signing. (“Rise of the Stinking Rich” is my vote for the best-named chapter in his book.)

Be sure to RSVP for the event here.

U.S. voters across the political spectrum overwhelming have negative views of companies that outsource jobs to China and strongly support Buy America provisions, according to a poll released today by the Alliance for American Manufacturing. Voters also say strengthening manufacturing in the United States is a top economic priority and they back the creation of a national manufacturing strategy to better compete with foreign nations that already have them in place.

The furor is growing since it was reported Wednesday that the spiffy red, white and blue outfits U.S. Olympians will wear in the opening ceremonies of the Olympic Games in London were Made in China.

Sen. Majority Leader  Harry Reid (D-Nev.) blasted the committee’s choice to offshore the Olympians’ uniforms.

I think the Olympic committee should be ashamed of themselves. I think they should be embarrassed. I think they should take all the uniforms, put them in a big pile and burn them and start all over again.