Fast Fact

Almost half of our trade deficit—$327 billion—is attributable to oil imports. To finance this debt, we must either borrow from countries like China or sell off American assets at the rate of $2 billion every single day.

America's trade deficit has nearly doubled during the Bush presidency. The 2007 trade deficit was $711 billion compared to $365 billion in 2001.

Every year, about 400,000 American jobs are lost because of our foreign trade policy—and that number takes into account employment created by increased exports.

Without legal protections such as the Employee Free Choice Act, workers when trying to organize unions are subject to routine intimidation, harassment, coercion and firings. Workers are fired in a quarter of private-sector union organizing campaigns; in such campaigns, 78 percent of private employers require supervisors to deliver anti-union messages to their employees; and even after workers successfully form a union, they can't get a contract one-third of the time.

Recent findings suggest that more than half of all U.S. workers—nearly 60 million—say they would join a union right now if they could.

Wages for union workers are 30 percent higher than for non-union workers ($863 median weekly earnings vs. $663). Union workers are 63 percent more likely to have health insurance (78 percent of union workers have employer-provided health insurance vs. 49 percent of non-union workers). And union workers are four times more likely to have pensions.

More than 850,000 families filed for bankruptcy in 2007, a 38 percent increase over 2006.

Sixteen percent of mortgaged homes are now “underwater”; that is, the mortgage owed equals or exceeds the value of the house. It is estimated that by June 2009, nearly one in four homes will be underwater.

Drilling for oil in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge would, at most, lower the cost of a barrel of crude oil by 50 cents in 2025, a drop in the bucket compared to the $90 increase in the price of a barrel of oil during Bush's presidency. Suspending the 18-cent federal gasoline tax over the summer would, at most, cover the cost of a half-tank of gas. By a single vote, conservatives killed Senate legislation that would have ended major tax subsidies for Big Oil—a vote that John McCain skipped. No wonder, since McCain's energy plan would give away $3.8 billion dollars to the five largest American oil companies.

In December 2007, the day after Bush signed Democratic legislation which modestly increases fuel efficiency standards, the administration blocked laws enacted in 18 states that would improve auto efficiency rules for a majority of Americans.