[A. Pole]

Yeah, blame unions and American workers earning too much.

[canuck_conservative]

At some point, unions WERE necessary, because there were some pretty hideous examples of employer abuse in the early 1900's.

BUT they went to far, making good jobs excessively expensive - I mean, someone getting $27 an hour just to shove a piece of metal in a furnance? No industry can compete with costs like that for no-talent work.

[Sandreckoner]

Well, yes, that Americans "make too much" relative to cheap foreign labor is a very real issue, whether certain types of folk want to admit that or not. Unions tend to exacerbate labor expenses, which makes them a key component of the problem.

[Calvin Locke]

Well, I worked with a guy that previously worked at a "computer" company. He said they had to fill out work orders to move a portable piece of test equipment from one room to another next door, or across the hall.

That's lots of wasted opportunity costs up and down the labor chain, not to mention debugging a problem immediately, instead of waiting on everything.