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I am not sure I understand the question, the market determines the price.

The actual $$ spent is irrelevant, what matters is what you get for those $$, standard of living. We have, by far, the highest standard of living in our history. Our labor productivity is still very high, not sure of the actual numbers, but I believe it is the highest in the world.

I know of a paper mill in Indonesia, they have 15,000 people working there, they pay them $2/day. Equivalent US companies have 400 people but pay them $20/hour. The US paper company is more profitable, however. A reason is that the Indonesian paper company has 6 months in inventory, so they are clueless about how to run a business, but have cheap labor. That's the way it works. If we are smarter and more efficient than they are, we win.

I see. I am just trying to figure out why everything is being outsourced. They have cheap labor. Do they do everything as well as our workers for less? Their standard of living is so poor. Ours is so high. Is it too high? What is wrong with this picture? Are we living beyond our means? Are we demanding too much in wages? Are unions running up the wages and taking some of the money? I just don't understand. Even my doctor is sending his dictation to Manila to be transcribed and he gets it back within 24 hours. He is a very conservative Republican, but he said it is business. He has to be able to make a living. He is not a rich man, either.