Alan Tonelson at USBIC has an insightful post up today on John McCain's trade and economic policies.  ManufactureThis readers probably know about McCain's opposition to most trade enforcement measures and his seeming disdain for manufacturing (here, here and here), but I thought a couple of Alan's points deserve praise. McCain's answer to manufacturing job loss is essentially a "wage insurance" program that would retrain manufacturing workers for lower-paying service sector jobs and have the government, for a period of time, make up part of the difference in their wages.  To be fair, McCain has borrowed this idea from centrist Democrats.  But the irony is rich.  McCain, a self-professed small-government, deregulating conservative, proposes a government wage supplement program as his answer for globalization.  And, as Tonelson points out, McCain embraces a Wall Street bailout, with conditions, while consistently opposing even a level playing field on trade for domestic manufacturers and workers, calling it "protectionism." Last, but not least, McCain has led the charge against "Buy American" requirements in military procurement.  Buy American laws ensure our national security by preserving a defense industrial base.  These laws ensure that at least some tax dollars stay in America rather than funding the defense industries of other nations.  I'm hoping that one of the presidential debate questions will focus on this topic, so that McCain can tell us why he doesn't support buying military goods made by Americans.