In 2010, Germany produced more than 5.5 million automobiles; the U.S. produced 2.7 million. At the same time, the average auto worker in Germany made $67.14 per hour in salary in benefits; the average one in the U.S. made $33.77 per hour. Yet Germany’s big three car companies—BMW, Daimler (Mercedes-Benz), and Volkswagen—are very profitable.
How can that be? The question is explored in a new article from Remapping Debate, a public policy e-journal. Its author, Kevin C. Brown, writes that “the salient difference is that, in Germany, the automakers operate within an environment that precludes a race to the bottom; in the U.S., they operate within an environment that encourages such a race.”
Not in American, our politicians do everything they can do to rush us to the bottom as fast as they can. The sooner we are all broke and starving the sooner we will become slaves like Chinese workers. We’ll be happy to earn 17 cents an hour like they do in Banglasesh making clothes. 90% of all clothes sold in American stores are made by people who do it in near-slavery conditions. Yet so many people are fooled into thinking the solution to our economic problems are getting rid of regulations, restricting voting and getting rid of the minimum wage. That cutting education and healthcare will do anything other than slit our own throats.