well, its only to be expected with a world economy. Chinas blue collar workers average 33 cents per hour and work about 75 hours per week. Even though the world community forced china to write some labor laws, they are largely ignored, especially the ones governing overtime pay. So lets see, the line owrkers in my plant make a base pay of about 40,000 dollars on a 40 hour week . They get decent medical at a fairly reasonable rate, (althouhg that is going to change soon). They get 9 paid holidays, 3 personal days, and depending on years of service, 7 weeks vacation per year. I am not sure what the chinese get, but you can bet its proportional the the pay difference. Id say the average cost of a line worker in my plant is about 55,000-60,000 dollars per year based on a 40 hour week. Thats about 26 dollars per hour. Id say thats about middle of the raod for a large corporations Union line worker, if not closer to below avg. The chinese on base pay alone, not even 1000 dollars per year. Obvioulsy, we are going to be buying chinese products, while they are going to be doing good to have a pot to pisss in, much less, purchase US made stuff. This is why the wise leaders of ancient history imposed tariffs on imported goods, to even the playing fields. The tariffs have been reduced recently, so large corporations, including US companies, can take advantage of this slave labor without having to pay those pesky import fees. In a raw economic terms, this is free trade at its finest. Good luck to everybody and your children if you are not a highly skilled worker or a professional.
