Exporting U.S. jobs: an engineered exodus of manufacturing and hi-tech jobs threatens to abolish the American middle class--the bulwark of a free society.

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Exporting U.S. jobs: an engineered exodus of manufacturing and hi-tech jobs threatens to abolish the American middle class--the bulwark of a free society.

We were middle class," lamented former textile worker Jimmy Bennett in an interview with the Washington Post, before hastily correcting himself: "We still are." Jimmy and his wife Verleen, residents of Kannapolis, North Carolina, were among the nearly 6,500 employees of the Pillowtex towel factory laid off in early August.

Just two years ago, reported the August 9th Washington Post, the Bennetts had bought a modest $100,000 home, "confident their combined wages ... would continue to support the comfortable lifestyle that had long eluded their parents." Like many of their former colleagues, the Bennetts, who both work part-time at near minimum wage, quickly sold many of their household amenities to get by on roughly half their previous take-home pay.

Thousands of other former Pillowtex workers "are fending off eviction notices, car repossessions and home forecl...

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