“We can whine all we want about it, but it isn’t going to change anything.”
You mean, you seek to dismiss all this by calling it whining? How can American workers compete with slave labor wages that exist in most of the world, kept at that level by governments who don’t give a damn about the prosperity of their own people? Is there a natural law missed by Einstein that requires the dismantling of American manufacturing and the removal of millions of jobs while importing millions of low-skilled illiterate third worlders?
Your wrote: “As the market has expanded and become more efficient the market drives to equilibrium so US wages drop and foreign wages climb”
The communist Chinese government sets the wages for one-fourth of the world’s population, not the market. The market equilibrium you mentioned would have kept our standard of living the same or better.
Wages are not being held down artificially on a global basis, they simply are where they are because in the developing world most of the educated workers are young and there is no where near enough demand to fully consume the supply.
Americans, just like any other nationality have the ability to compete and earn high wages even in this market, and do. But they have to be competitive. That means smart, hungry, and persistent learners. What I’m hearing is a lot of “entitled” whining that comes from too many years of bloated wages for very little skill. The world has changed; those who accept that fact will prosper. Those who expect the same pay for the same effort and skill, will lose their income to the hungry masses outside America. Apply basic market economics and the picture gets very clear - most of those here understand markets I hope? Isn’t that the very definition of conservative?