> the average American now scrapes by makes minimum wage working odd hours at a Starbucks with no benefits The average American has adequate health benefits [1

> the average American now scrapes by makes minimum wage working odd hours at a Starbucks with no benefits The average American has adequate health benefits [1] and makes around $25/hr [2,3]. > We just export all this pollution to China. We sure do. > Instead of a good unionized manufacturing job But I question the assertion that without China we would still have strong unionized manufacturing labor. In fact, globalization was just one component of an ultimately successful, century-long coordinated attack on unionized labor. [1] About 100 million Americans have no or inadequate healthcare, which is of course inexcusable but still means the "average" American does have healthcare. And this being the USA, that healthcare is likely tied to employment. [2] https://www.fool.com/investing/general/2015/01/18/how-does-your-income-stack-up-against-the-average.aspx https://www.fool.com/investing/general/2015/01/18/how-does-y... [3] There are problems with [2], but computing (Mean Household Income https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Household_income_in_the_United_States#Mean_household_income https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Household_income_in_the_United... )/2 earners/52/40 = $17/hour as a very conservative lower bound.