"By the banks of Lake Tunk"

As the US conventions begin, big business has its eye on both parties; but the poor have the ear of neither

In his stump speech, the Democratic vice-presidential candidate, John Edwards, says there are two Americas: "One America - middle-class America - whose needs Washington has long forgotten; another America - narrow-interest America - whose every wish is Washington's command." Lubec's locals do not fit into either. Living in Washington County, one of the poorest in the US, they are certainly doing the work, but they are not middle class. Take Daniel Fitzsimmons. He used to employ around 50 people in a business making Christmas wreaths. When the North American Free Trade Agreement came in he went out of business, undercut by cheaper wreaths from Canada. "It's free trade to some people, but it ain't free to us because we're losing everything we had," he says.

Full Article : guardian.co.uk