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.

Given what we noted about America’s workers living paycheck to paycheck, the new data, released yesterday by Pew Research Center, are no surprise (click on chart to enlarge):

Since 2000, the middle class has shrunk in size, fallen backward in income and wealth and shed some—but by no means all—of its characteristic faith in the future.

Surprising, no. Horrifying? You betcha.

America’s workers are existing on the edge of financial disaster: 40 percent say they live paycheck to paycheck, according to a recent CareerBuilder survey. Worse, 37 percent say they sometimes need to rely on the next payday to make ends meet. Although the percentage of those literally living for payday has decreased from 42 percent in 2011 and from 46 percent in 2008, the height of the recession, this is not good news.

In addition, the survey found:

What’s your biggest worry about your job?

Some 40 percent of America’s workers say they fear their benefits will be reduced in the near future, according to Gallup’s annual Work and Education poll released today. That compares with 28 percent who are afraid their wages will be cut back and 28 percent who fear they will be laid off, a percentage that's still high compared with pre-recession levels. (Click on chart to enlarge.) In addition, 26 percent fear their hours will be cut back.

Immigrant-owned new businesses are critical to jump-starting the U.S. economy and creating jobs, according to a recent report by
the Partnership for a New American Economy.

Immigrant-owned businesses now employ one out of every 10 U.S. workers at privately owned companies and add more than $775 billion of revenue to the U.S. gross domestic product.

Mitt Romney likes to cite his experience as a businessman as qualifying him to be president.

A new website takes a close look at Romney’s participation in the corporate world—his many years as CEO of the hedge fund Bain Capital. The closer you look, the uglier it gets.

Imagine if you were a child and living in constant fear of losing your parents.

For many children of aspiring citizens, potential loss of one or both parents is a day-to-day reality. Deportations can force children into foster care when their parents are shipped out of the country and leave single mothers struggling to make ends meet.

A new Center for American Progress report highlights how deportations break up families and negatively affect the entire community.

Turn outrage into action by signing a new petition demanding an end to Ohio’s voter suppression.

ColorOfChange.org just launched a petition demanding that Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted restore weekend voting hours in the weeks leading up to Election Day.

To sign the petition, click here.

Are you financially better off when the president is a Republican or Democrat?

According to a new book, Bulls, Bears and the Ballot Box: How the Performance of Our Presidents Has Impacted Your Wallet, the answer is not what is widely believed.

In an analysis spanning 80 years and 13 presidents—from Herbert Hoover to George W. Bush—authors Lew Goldfarb and Bob Deitrick show, in their words,

the GOP theory of Republican economic dominance is no more than a myth. Period.

A new study finds that when states raised the minimum wage in recent recessions, their economies suffered less job loss than those that did not (click on chart at left to expand).