PLIGHT OF AMERICAN WORKERS

In capitalism it seems like a large group of people need to be relatively poor because a lot of low-cost labor is needed in most industries. Why do you think that a certain party voted in congress to increase the child tax credit to $1,000 where you deduct this $1,000 from your income taxes in addition to getting a $600 deduction on your income? Does one think that wealthy people will have a child for a crummy $1,000 decrease in their taxes? No, it is to try to get workers to provide more low-cost workers.

We seem to be in a trend here in the U.S. where the wages of American workers are decreasing to find some sort of parity with workers in low-pay foreign countries like China. Factored in is the price of natural gas in the foreign countries, shipping expenses, and no doubt a number of other items. Yes, jobs are being brought back to the U.S. but at lower wages than before the job was off-shored (jobs restored since they were lost in 2008 pay about 23% less*).  Note added in December of 2014: the wages of the American worker also must be less than the cost of automation so the American worker has a double bind.  The Golden Age of the American worker may be over.

Amazingly, American auto workers will even vote against their personal interests and refused to unionize at the VW Chattanooga auto plant (712 against to 626 for unionization) even though there was no opposition from VW management.  As a result, workers at this plant are lower paid than at other VW plants:
In Germany, for instance, auto workers at VW plants get paid an average of $67.14 an hour. That's more than double the average hourly rate for an established unionized worker in Detroit, and it's more than three times what the non unionized workers in Chattanooga can hope to earn. According to a company spokesperson, new hires at Chattanooga start at $14.50 an hour, a rate that gradually increases to $19.50 an hour after three years on the job. (http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/feb/19/vw-uaw-tennessee-auto-workers-stupid-or-coerced)

* http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/08/11/us-usa-mayors-jobs-idUSKBN0GB1T920140811