“Your smart phone was made in a labor camp, your clothes were made in a sweatshop, and your fish were caught on a slave ship.” So James Stuber tells us in the introduction to this timely book. Stuber invites us to follow him on the journey to learn “what is really going on” with trade, globalization, and the U.S. and world economies. We go to some surprising places. To Reynosa, Mexico, and Flint, Michigan, after Delco sent its production to the former from the latter: “And so, there we have it, Stuber says, “Under NAFTA, we send Flint’s jobs to Reynosa, creating demand for drugs in Flint, demand that is filled by gangs in Reynosa. We have “employed” workers living in shanty towns in Reynosa, and jobless workers living in slums in Flint, and drug wars going on among suppliers in Reynosa and distributors in Flint.” To the Chinese “factory labor camp” making smart phones, with nets to prevent more workers from committing suicide by jumping off the roof. To the Illinois steel mill, dealing with the suicide of one of its workers, because the mill was shut down when China started dumping its overproduction of steel on the U.S. market. We are caught up in the “Big Squeeze” of the global low-price, low wage economy, with every nation, including the U.S., competing to win over transnational companies shopping the world for low wages and subsidies. And the future looks even worse, as white-collar and professional jobs are being swept offshore along with manufacturing.

Pete LOVES his homemade popcorn