You can buy shoes that were once $50 for $26. According to columnist William Safire ["How free trade helps all of us," Feb. 24], that is the gift of globalization. "Optimistic America," he goes on to say, responds to competition, opportunity and freedom. "Free trade" will make us a better, more efficient society. And for those who question the "free trade" rhetoric, Mr. Safire contends we are protectionists, fearful of competition.

Obviously, the good news about cheap shoes has not reached much of Ohio. We should tell the worker in Ohio who was working in steel, and when those jobs left, began crafting lint brushes, and when those jobs left, began collecting unemployment, not to worry, because the price of shoes has dropped. Who needs job stability, a living wage and health care when you have got cheap shoes?

What a simple way to view such a complex issue as globalization. Unfortunately, there is one thing that stands in the way of Mr. Safire's reasoning: reality. According to a 2003 report by the Economic Policy Institute, people in Ohio who have lost their jobs to NAFTA face a 29% drop in wages. And what about the jobs in Mexico? Are the people making our cheap shoes benefiting at our expense? The answer is no. According to a U.N. study prepared by 20 officials and experts including Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph E. Stiglitz, former chairman of President Clinton's Council of Economic Advisers, found the gap between rich and poor nations widening. Countries representing 14 percent of the world's population account for half the world's trade and foreign investment. Within the wealthy countries the gap is also widening. The wealthiest 1 percent of Americans earn 17 percent of our nation's income, which according to a Feb. 24 New York Times article is a level last seen in the 1920s.

Moreover, people like me, who want trade to promote democracy and an economy that benefits the majority, are not protectionist. We are compassionate and we believe it is wrong to negotiate human lives to the lowest bidder. A global economy can work to the benefit of our entire society, not just its wealthiest members, but it requires major reforms, like enforceable international labor and environmental standards. People in Ohio and all over the world want good paying jobs, health care, three meals a day and a cheap pair of shoes. Now, that's what I call an optimistic America.

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Susan Knight of Price Hill works with the Sierra Club and is founder of Cincinnati's Coalition for a Humane Economy.

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