[My GOP]

Maybe you should come to NC and I can let you talk to some furniture and textile workers who have lost their jobs or those whose jobs are in jeopardy. I can give you a tour of empty manufactoring plants that have been shut down. Maybe here in NC you can also get a taste of what its like to live as a blue collar working class person. What political party runs Chicago again?

[1rudeboy]

Being from North Carolina, maybe you didn't know that North Carolina dwarfs Illinois in merchandise exports to the CAFTA-DR region, racking-up $1.7 billion dollars' worth of merchandise exports in 2004? Being from North Carolina, maybe you don't know that Caterpillar Corp. is located in Illinois? It manufactures heavy machinery, and exports a pile of it. Maybe you also, being from North Carolina, didn't know that 50% of the soybeans grown in Illinois are exported? What are those thingies called again, farms? Heck, being from North Carolina, what do you know?

[1rudeboy]

North Carolina’s top manufactured export to the CAFTA-DR group is fabrics: in 2004, the state exported fabrics valued at $361 million. North Carolina’s other four leading exports to the CAFTA-DR area in 2004 were apparel ($347 million); fibers, yarns, and threads ($324 million); knit apparel ($189 million); and apparel accessories ($106 million).

CAFTA-DR provides regional garment-makers—and their U.S. suppliers of fabric and yarn—a critical advantage in competing with Asia. Garments made in the region will be duty-free and quota-free under the agreement only if they use U.S. fabric and yarn, thereby supporting U.S. exports and jobs. Textile and garment factories in Central America and the Dominican Republic purchase large amounts of fabric and yarn from the United States: the region is the second-largest world market for these U.S. products.

Source (.pdf file)