[Walkin Man]

But when unions demand over $20 per hour for menial labor...

Yes and college educated non-union white collar workers in America demand 50 to 80,000 a year while in India, poeple with the same education are willing to work 12 hours a day for 6,000 a year! And lots and lots and lots of those jobs are now going overseas as well.

I remember an America where a person only capable of "menial labor" could still live a decent life and raise a family. Now the same person is doomed to try and compete with slave labor in communist China! The USA is going to pay a heavy social price for cheap shoes sold at the Great Wall-Mart.

[Chancellor Palpatine]

I remember an America where a person only capable of "menial labor" could still live a decent life and raise a family.

So what? "Little man" populism is over, and good riddance. I can't say as I really care whether some disaffected class warrior can afford that tricked up pickup truck, a couple of trips to the Winston Cup series or some new gear for his bass boat annually.

[Paulus Invictus]

Employees at W-M are not a whole lot better off in terms of spendable income either. My relative works there, and barely makes it with his "poverty level" salary and he has worked there for five years.

[virgil]

It won't be long before the $6000 for Indian labor will become inconvenient for manufacturers too. I guess $.09/hr is alright if you don't mind living like a pygmy in a country ran by pygmies with a pygmy government with pygmy laws for a pygmy society. Slavery inhibits progress. There was a reason we abolished slavery in the US and its no accident that it was abolished as we were approaching the peak of the industrial age. This preceded a period of scientific advances never seen before in history that greatly improved the quality of life for us. The race to the bottom is a race back to the stoneage.